Stay in solidarity with the most impacted
“If we are going to make it through this, we have to be encouraging.
It’s hard to be stuck inside; it’s hard to go outside.”
Dear friends,
Many of us can identify with this gently put insight by an ATD Fourth World member in New York City. These are difficult times for everyone and we’re needing encouragement and support in a lot of ways. As the effects of Covid-19 have hit all of us, people who struggle daily because of poverty are experiencing the impacts more severely than most.
People living in Navajo Nation and neighboring rural areas for whom the weekly Gallup Flea Market and Story Garden were a source of income, community, and creative learning for children have been without those things for over 8 weeks. Individuals living in shelters, welfare motels, or on the streets are in unsafe, crowded conditions where social distancing rules are impossible to follow. Families are scrambling to find the needed technology and learn how their children can finish the school year at home, knowing that students will miss out on some of the specific knowledge and skills that can only be learned with the resources available in a school setting. It is all scary, angering, exhausting, and adds to the toxic stress that poverty causes in people’s lives.
My daughter is taking her classes on her cell phone. But some kids can’t even do that. They have to go to the school and pick their homework up. Some of the kids don’t have phones or computers.
- Mother of High School students in New York City
Weekly ATD Fourth World Community Calls have been a way for people from across the United States to connect and speak about the challenges, emotions, successes, and efforts they have experienced or seen around them. For many, these calls are a source of strength through the uncertainties. Team members and Volunteer Corps members call, text, and message to stay connected with others, particularly people isolated and facing extreme hardships.
We have adapted some programs to respond to this crisis and to protect and support one another in new ways. In New York City the Fourth World People’s University will happen through video conferences, with the preparation team all working remotely to prepare the upcoming theme of “Facing Change”. A newly started Tapori group at a school near the Story Garden in Brownsville, Brooklyn quickly became part of the distance learning curriculum for the class. Students in Brooklyn will now send and receive messages with children around the world during this isolating time.
Vast distances, high rates of poverty, and lack of infrastructure in the rural lands near Gallup, NM, have made being in touch difficult and worrisome. The ATD Fourth World team in Gallup has mailed packages with books, art materials, and as needed daily living supplies to families they know are facing dire challenges. The packages also include personal letters from the team and the Tapori activity children in Brownsville are doing, along with a return envelope. The children’s messages of hope will travel and be exchanged with others around the world. The crisis is severe in this region of the country. While we don’t know how long it will continue, we do know that families in poverty will be hit hard and need support from the community around them. Our packages, letters, and messages will continue to be part of that support as long as needed.
Thank you for taking this time to think about the impact of this Covid-19 pandemic on individuals, children, and families, who may live far away from your home or be neighbors. Please consider a donation in any amount you are able as our ATD Fourth World community continues to support one another through this crisis.
Here are a few ways your gift makes an impact:
$50 contributes to groceries delivered to a family in an emergency situation
$150 mails 3 packages of books, art materials, and living supplies to people we can’t reach in person
$300 supports the technical and staffing costs to set up and run a group conference call to provide mutual support, build collective knowledge and develop future programs and priorities
$500 helps keep our lights on, Volunteer Corps members and team members cared for as we all keep going
In solidarity,
Maria Sandvik
Finance and Administration Director