A grassroots volunteer network is helping Bushwick through the pandemic
A group of Bushwick residents are banding together to create a volunteer network for the elderly and quarantined as the city advises residents to maintain space from each other and shuts down businesses to fight the spread of the new coronavirus.
Alicia Fox started Bushwick Mutual Aid on Friday, March 13, as a Facebook group for neighbors to share tips, such as where to go to stock toiletries as grocery stores empty out, and for people to offer free assistance running errands and delivering food.
The next day, she and another resident taped fliers across Bushwick advertising the group in English and Spanish, including an email address for prospective volunteers to sign up. She also dropped off a stack with the receptionist at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center.
“We found out in the news later that the first victim in New York City had just passed away at that hospital,” said Fox, a five-year-resident of Bushwick who works in online publishing. “It really struck home with me that definitely this was the right thing to do.”
By Tuesday, Bushwick Mutual Aid’s email inbox was filled with over 70 people offering to volunteer, while the Facebook group grew to about 500 members.