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set up separate funds for grant relief to
nonprofits providing food, housing and
health care, to assist Rhode Islanders with
mental health challenges, and to compensate
artists for income lost in the crisis.
And Steinberg expects the pot to grow.
“We needed to show leadership, so we
went out and started,” Steinberg says.
“Overall, I’m inspired by how people have
stepped up and rallied.”
The state’s homeless shelters had to
expand their services from overnight hours
to twenty-four/seven operations with
fewer staff due to illness or child care
responsibilities. Case management became
virtual, shelter beds had to be moved to
physically separate clients. The hunt for
motel rooms and supplies — toilet paper,
food, thermometers — was relentless.
“People are being very creative,” says
Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless
Executive Director Caitlin Frumerie. “We
were getting ready to display a public art
project of pillowcase flags representing
the number of people experiencing homelessness
on any given night, and we had
been collecting pillowcases, but we are
going to use them for masks, because that
is more important right now.”
In Providence, Remi Graber, a Massachusetts
paramedic and longtime activist,
started matching donations and services
with people looking for help through a
COVID-19 PVD Area Mutual Aid and
Community Assistance Facebook group.
“It’s meant to empower your community
to help yourselves,” he says, “and not
hope to rely on the government or a large
nonprofit entity that may or may not help.”
Down in South Kingstown, school committee
vice chair Sarah Markey was part
of a group that launched a similar effort.
It started with a simple form assessing
the town’s needs and who was willing to
donate money, supplies and their time.
The South County Mutual Aid Support
Group spread by word of mouth. Within
a month, it snagged a $25,000 Rhode Island
Foundation grant. Nearly 200 volunteers
helped seventy-six neighbors with groceries,
Easter basket goodies, laundry and
rent assistance.
“Our neighbors have been really generous,”
Markey says. “But it’s going out the
door as fast as it’s coming in.”
Michael Norton, a Harvard Business
School professor who studies the emo-
For those with
memories to make.
Expect Better.
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