How SA’s neighbours are getting through the coronavirus crisis by looking out for each other
We’re all in this together – even if we’re apart. And in SA, neighbours and businesses are going the extra step of looking out for each other. Here’s just a few stories.
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Neighbours are coming together – from a distance – to support each other as the coronavirus continues to sweep across the state.
From kind notes in mailboxes offering assistance, to providing toilet paper to those in need and popping bears in windows to make children smile, local communities are banding together to help each other feel less alone.
Today is Neighbour Day and while these celebrations have traditionally been face-to-face affairs, South Australians are finding other ways to look out for each other and connect during these challenging times.
Last week, Carly White and her family delivered letters to all of the neighbours on her street in Stonyfell urging them to contact her if they needed anything.
She was concerned about elderly residents feeling isolated and wanted to teach her eight-year-old son, Noah, how important it is to look out for others.
“Our son Noah is home now and it’s about teaching him to pay it forward,” Ms White said. “It’s incredibly important for neighbours to come together because of the risk of social isolation particularly in a neighbourhood with a lot of elderly residents.
“It’s easy to be miserable about the whole thing but it is also an opportunity to effect positive change.”
The full-time firefighter has also signed up to “adopt” a healthcare worker through a Facebook group, which is connecting people with those working on the frontline against coronavirus, so they can support them.
“On Wednesday, I took our fire truck around to the Hampstead to collect some scrubs because she (her adoptee) has volunteered to do 12-hour shifts at the Royal Adelaide Hospital,” she said.
“She was given some new scrubs but she’s 5ft 2 and they can’t take them up for her so I’m going to sew them for her.
“From all of this, I have seen significantly more kindness and people coming together, which is really nice.”
Velvet Oakes received a similar letter in her mailbox from her neighbours in Christies Beach offering – in addition to picking up groceries and medication – to lend books and games as well as provide fresh produce from their garden.
“After reading it we felt so grateful to have such thoughtful and generous neighbours,” Ms Oakes said.
“The list of what they can offer made us think about what we have to offer others.”
For Hazelwood Park resident Nadia Moreira, moving into her new home earlier this month could not have come at a more difficult time. But she decided to treat it as an opportunity to get to know her new neighbours and started a text message group with about 15 nearby residents so they could offer each other assistance.
“We just bought this house and with the coronavirus we thought ‘what can we do’ and I was thinking about the elderly and so I wanted to do something to help,” Mrs Moreira said.
“Yesterday, I went to the supermarket so I sent a message saying ‘guys, I’m going to the supermarket does anyone need anything’.
“We can make a difference with little things because for some people it’s a big thing.”
Mrs Moreira, who is from Brazil, said chatting with her neighbours was also helping her with her English.
“They’re supporting me too,” she said.
OVER THE RAINBOW
After the storm comes the rainbow, says Annie Mitchell from Goodwood Community Services.
The organisation has encouraged Goodwood residents to decorate their fence or letter box with rainbows to lift the community’s spirit.
“It’s a way to show your neighbours you are here to help if they need and that we as a community can do something together, even when we are physically apart,” Ms Mitchell said. “We’ve been taken aback by how well it’s been received. Bright colours and rainbows are cropping up right throughout the neighbourhood and beyond.”
Everard Park resident Annie, 9, brightened up her fence with rainbow artwork bearing the message “we got this”. Her mum Alice Young said she encouraged her children to be kind. “We decided we’d make some pictures with positive words for our neighbours and for people walking or driving by,” she said.
Goodwood Community Services is also running a “community frontyard picnic” to celebrate Neighbour Day. “We’re encouraging people to have a picnic in their front yard or driveway,” Ms Mitchell said. “If they can, we’d love for them to order takeaway from a local Goodwood restaurant.”
PIZZA PARTY
An Adelaide pizza joint is so grateful for our hardworking hospital staff that it has treated them to a free dinner. Pizza Bite in Redwood Park has sent free pizzas to the Lyell McEwin and Modbury Hospitals this week.
Owner Les Hanna said he appreciated the pressure our nurses and those on the front line were under and wanted to do something special for them.
“I can’t change what’s happening in this world but if I can make a group of people smile and laugh then I have done my job,” he said. “If one small business can make a difference, imagine what 20 could do.”
WARM HEARTS
A group in Adelaide’s south is passing the time at home by knitting woollies for the homeless. Willunga resident Rachel Overstreet has started up a Facebook group encouraging people to knit or crochet beanies, gloves and scarfs for the homeless.
“My thought is that elderly residents who will soon be unable to have visitors, could use a project to help others,” Ms Overstreet said. “The idea was inspired by my nana who spend most of her life knitting jackets for the premature babies at different Adelaide hospitals – almost 2500 in her lifetime. She continued to knit them up until the day she died and it gave her a sense of purpose and meaning.’’