Wear a face covering

Face masks will soon be required in many public indoor spaces, such as stores. Here are some tips from an expert on how and when to use a mask or face covering. Remember that wearing a mask is not a substitute for social distancing or frequent hand washing.

Do you need assistance?

Please leave me a message on my voicemail at Grace (708-366-6900 ext. 219) if you need assistance with grocery shopping or errands, you need a mask, or have physical or mental health related needs. If you or someone you know are experiencing financial difficulties due to illness or job loss, please reach out. We can explore available resources. 

Helping out beyond our Grace community

The Grace Community is fortunate to have resources available to us to help us weather the storm that is the COVID-19 pandemic.  But many communities are not as fortunate as we are.  I have been approached by two fellow Faith Community Nurses asking for help for their communities:

• Concordia Place in Chicago  serves  Avondale, Logan Square, Hermosa and Humboldt Park—predominantly working class neighborhoods that have been hit hard unemployment resulting from the pandemic and the stay at home order. 
• Kenwood United Church of Christ  serves low-income Chicago neighborhoods that have a very high incidence of COVID-19 cases. 

The nurses that serve these two communities have requested masks to distribute to members of the public. The quilters and seamstresses of Grace have already been at work on this.  On Thursday I dropped off 50 masks for Concordia Place. These will be distributed to people who are picking up meals at the Community Dinners served on Wednesday evenings at St. Nicholai Church in Avondale, to  staff and children at the daycare that Concordia Place is currently offering for emergency health workers, to people living in the homeless encampment in the Logan Square-Avondale area, and to volunteers for Loving Food Pantry.  

How can you help? 

1. Join the efforts of Grace Church’s many talented sewists in making masks, both adult size and child size. If you don’t want to sew, but have cotton fabric, ¼" or smaller elastic, bias tape, or elastic hair ties to donate, that would be great, too. Please call me and we can coordinate the sharing of materials and of completed masks.  (If someone would like to take on the coordinating of this effort, that would be great, too.  I am happy to deliver the masks, if needed.)
2. The people served by these organizations are in need of many other things including food gift cards, diapers and baby wipes, and supplies such as cleaning products, toilet paper, washcloths and toiletries. Guests of the Community Dinners need socks and underwear. I am still working out how we at Grace can help with these needs; if you would like to donate or become more involved in this project, please contact me.

Please contact me at 708-366-6900 ext 219 or by email at .