The Kindness Revolution volunteer Cade Ayers, 16, helps organize water bottles and other items for filling goodie bags for local seniors running short on food and hygiene products due to COVID-19. H/t Moriah Engdahl.
Harsh winds whipped through Campbell County March 20 as gloomy clouds shrouded the sun. Where some might retreat for a Friday afternoon indoors, Natalie Daly and her crew of volunteers forged on to Cottonwood Terrace. Teens lugged cardboard boxes filled to the brim with essential items and other provisions as Joyce Rapp watched from the lobby, shaking her head in disbelief.
The short, silver-haired 55-year-old woman invited them into the senior housing complex with a big smile and clasped hands. A tenant at Cottonwood, Rapp thanked the crew for the delivery on behalf of she, staff and her neighbors.
Pointing to a tired looking maintenance worker who Rapp called “Mr. Ivan,” Rapp described the extra strain that had been put on the workers since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak.
“They’re constantly making sure things are clean and well kept,” Rapp said. “They go out of their way to make sure we’re doing alright.”
As she spoke, two young volunteers were busily working, emptying provisions into a closet in the lobby.
These items will be much appreciated, Rapp again expressed to the crew. Recently, part-time Building Manager Lisa Clark had taken a group of tenants to Walmart, where they were very shocked to see all of the empty shelves.
Rapp, who has “lived through quite a bit of history,” described the experience as unbelievable.
“Everyone seemed like they were hurrying because there wasn’t enough food or supplies to go around,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Since the arrival of COVID-19 in Gillette, local grocery stores have been pummeled by citizens stockpiling supplies for extended stays at home. Now, everyday items like toilet paper, canned goods, cleaning supplies and a variety of everyday hygiene products the Cottonwood Terrace seniors were needing had vanished from the shelves at every store in town.
As a result, grocery stores have been forced to alter their opening and closing hours to allow for employees to restock shelves. Residents like Rapp with limited access to flexible transportation, quickly found themselves lacking some of these essential items which was disconcerting.
“I don’t have much family here, and the family I do have works in the medical field, so they’re obviously working very hard right now,” she told Daly. “So, when I need something from the store, it can be a real struggle, especially now.”
Earlier that week, Daly and her The Gillette Kindness Revolution – Gillette, WY, led by Natalie Daly Ins Agency volunteers had been worried about this more vulnerable population and how they might be getting along in the face of supply shortages and overpacked grocery stores.
Daly considered the effects of these unideal conditions and rallied her crew to do something to help relieve some of their stress. The group teamed up with Kaycee Westbrook of Journey Church to create care packages for those without regular access to grocery stores.
That March Saturday afternoon, the women met with around eight other volunteers to pack the care packages. Working in a conveyer-belt like fashion, Gillette Main Street Program Coordinator Stephanie Crawford stuffed rolls of toilet paper into the bottoms of paper bags, while high school students Cade Ayers and Joseph Acosta filled the bags with crackers, peanut butter, oatmeal, canned soup, bread, cereal, canned fruit and granola bars before sending them down the line to Allison Shirley and Missy Norton, who topped them off with bottled water and juices. Finally, Daly threw in some bottles of hand sanitizer, soap and other hygiene products and, within an hour, 155 care packages were made and ready to go.
As the group talked to Rapp while unloading their provisions, other Cottonwood residents and employees filtered into the lobby to thank Daly and The Kindness Revolution volunteers for thinking about them.
“This is a trying time, and I believe that we can both maintain our health and come together as a community,” Daly said in response to the effusive gratitude from staff and tenants. “That’s the only way that we’ll through this.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated from its original version to include the full name and contact information of the nonprofit organization, The Kindness Revolution – Gillette, WY, led by Natalie Daly Ins Agency.
The Wyoming Department of Health provides COVID-19 case, variant, death, testing, hospital and vaccine data online. The department also shares information about how the data can be interpreted. COVID-19 safety recommendations are available from the CDC.
