Masked volunteers survey the food bagged and ready for distribution at the pop-up food pantry at Sprunica Elementary Sept. 16, 2020. Submitted photo
Where can someone go who needs help paying utility bills?
How do I sign up for a COVID-19 vaccine and when are they coming?
Could anyone use a pallet-load of donated girls snow boots?
Connections and solutions like those are still being found in virtual meetings of the Brown County COAD — Community Organizations Active in a Disaster.
The group of volunteers started meeting on the weekend of March 15, when it was apparent that COVID-19 was spreading and would soon affect Brown County. Since then, members have met at least monthly, sometimes each week, either in person or virtually, with most meetings lately via Zoom.
The same group has been organizing and promoting pop-up food pantries around the county for the better part of a year. So far, 18 pop-ups have taken place, plus 13 other food distributions, distributing 150,000 pounds of food.
Those events have helped feed 1,664 adults and 906 children, reports Kim Robinson, COAD chair.
In addition, 1,900 hot meals were delivered between March and May.
COAD has included representatives from county government, town government, the YMCA, the Red Cross, veterans groups, volunteer fire departments, township trustees, the chamber of commerce, the tourism industry, the state park, the health and emergency management departments, the community foundation, Brown County Schools, law enforcement, TRIAD and other senior aid organizations, God’s Grace ministry, the mental health field, Purdue Extension and the newspaper.
And that’s just the list of organizations that may attend meetings somewhat regularly. At events like the food pantries, so far, 151 volunteers have helped, representing 43 community partners — 11 churches, four volunteer fire departments, 15 community organizations, four businesses, four schools, and five government/law enforcement agencies, Robinson reported.
Their work represents about 1,500 volunteer hours.
COAD also has a hotline that residents can call — 812-988-0001 — with any questions they have related to COVID-19. Often, Robinson is the one to answer those calls.
“A remarkable amount of residents have been served in form or another by an amazing group of individuals and organizations,” she said.
At each COAD meeting, every participant shares information relating to their field or office about COVID-19, and relays questions or needs to the group that they might not be able to fill or answer on their own. Often, someone in the circle has a solution.
At the Jan. 4 meeting, for instance, town council member Nancy Crocker asked where she should send someone who was unable to pay a utility bill. She asked, could the money that local government received from the CARES Act recently be used to pay that?
The answer was no to the CARES Act money, but Maddison Miller at the Brown County Community Foundation said that the foundation had given township trustees extra money to help residents with utility bills. The South Central Community Action Program (SCCAP) also may be able to help, said Melissa Stinson, human resources coordinator for county government.
Mary Kilgore from God’s Grace paused while packing for the next pop-up food pantry to tell the group what she was bringing: more free coats for children of all ages, and possibly some new socks, too.
Crocker told her about a friend from Anderson who runs a community clothes closet and had received several pallets’ worth of new girls snow boots from Nike. Kilgore said she’d be happy to meet that person and see if they could help distribute some down here.
Veterans Service Officer Chris Snell reported on how his office was still providing services. Kevin Snyder, assistant property manager at Brown County State Park, told him that they love hiring veterans and if Snell learned of any who needed something to do, send them his way.
Snyder also mentioned a need for lifeguards in case the state park pool can open this summer, and he and Robinson, the executive director of the YMCA, chatted about the possibility of offering certification classes to fill the need at both properties’ pools.
Corey Frost from the health department also Zoomed in to give a brief rundown on vaccine distribution so that everyone on the call could take that information back to the populations they serve.
The newspaper participates in these meetings to update members on what they’ll see in that week’s paper; to share virus spread data, if the health or emergency management departments are not on the call; and to listen for story ideas, including the good-news feature called Bright Spots.
At last week’s meeting, several member commented on how helpful this network of partnerships had been for them, too, helping them get to know their community better and the people working in it, whether they’ve lived here most of their life or just for a few years.
“This is a total group effort,” Robinson said. “We’re all in this together, and we can’t do it alone.”
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