TIFFANY’S STORY

Recovering from surgery last week, Tiffany Brown is fighting two battles. After being diagnosed with breast cancer for the second time, she had to close her business in January. She was making ends meet with house visits to her clients but when the coronavirus hit, she has had to stay home because she is worried about her health and her lowered immunity. Tiffany is a single mother having raised two successful daughters, both training to be medical professionals as a med student and PA student. “I never thought I would be down like this,” she says, which is what made her reach out to United Way 211. She received financial assistance to pay her mortgage and feed her family as she fights cancer with her business closed. “It’s helped me more than I knew. I aim to donate and spread the kindness back when I can again.” Tiffany received assistance from the cancer center and for her mortgage both through United Way 211.

Savannah & Andrew’s Story

Andrew and I are both from Alabama. He’d moved to Savannah in 2018 to take an engineering job and I followed him shortly after, working for a nonprofit organization in the area. On our way home to Birmingham for Christmas a few months ago, I got a notification on my phone. It was for a really, really good deal on a flight: $480, roundtrip, to Madrid, Spain. It felt like a sign. We had both been wanting to travel; to see more of the world around us. We were also both at points in our jobs where we’d realized we weren’t all that happy; we’d talked about making career changes and had started putting feelers our for openings in both of our industries. What if we took some time off, in that in-between phase? Explored Europe for a month? Found new jobs to start upon our return? We talked about it, and decided there wouldn’t be another opportunity like this for a while. We bought our tickets right then and there. I couldn’t wait to tell my parents! WE WERE GOING TO SPEND A MONTH ABROAD!

Shortly after we’d started planning our once-in-a-lifetime trip, we started hearing about this new virus breaking out in some parts of China. Of course, I felt bad for those affected, but Wuhan, China was so far away from my life in Savannah; the novel coronavirus, at that time, didn’t have anything to do with me.

I was watching live, when President Trump stated that the US would be initiating a European travel ban, effective a few days after that first press conference. This was the ultimate determination and the conclusive reality I’d tried tirelessly to avoid: our trip was cancelled. I was devastated.

We weren’t just upset about the loss of our trip. By that point, Andrew and I had already put in our notices with our jobs, and our last days were quickly approaching. We were faced with the harsh reality of the two of us being unemployed for the foreseeable future. The uncertainty of it all – our future, our finances, our survival – kept me up at night, and I was pretty depressed for a while.

Then, things here got bad.

All life is valuable, and the effects that this coronavirus has had on the millions and millions of people all across the world is equally devastating no matter who you are or where you’re from. However, the effects didn’t feel all that palpable until they were here – and suddenly, they were. They were very much here.

Unemployment across the nation rose to record numbers, worse than the country had ever seen. My dad was laid off. My friend’s wedding got cancelled. Another friend couldn’t deliver her baby with her mom by her side. My grandma couldn’t have all of her kids and grandkids and great-grandkids over to her house for Sunday lunch, a tradition she’d established more than forty years ago, and leaned on even more after her husband died last year.

Thousands upon thousands of people were dying. Suddenly, my trip wasn’t relevant. Neither was the fact that Andrew and I didn’t have jobs.

We weren’t the only ones affected by this, as we had foolishly thought a few short weeks ago. The entire country – the entire world – was grieving. And, for many, it was in much larger ways than not seeing the Eiffel Tower.

Where I was bitter before, I became grateful. My issues were so small, compared to what many other people were experiencing around the world – and right here in my own backyard. Could I turn that gratitude into something more meaningful; something that could help someone else, even?

Andrew and I now had all of this extra time on our hands, and I knew that I could help my community by simply volunteering a little bit of that time to a great cause. I immediately contacted United Way and anxiously waited to hear back from someone about volunteer opportunities.

It wasn’t long before Andrew and I were on the calendar to help bag lunches for the “Backpack Buddy” program. He was just as excited as I was to get out of our schlump and help out someone in need. We drove over to the Liberty County office a few days later and got to work. It was weird, putting on gloves and a face mask. But Andrew, the other volunteers, and I smiled at each other underneath the uncomfortable coverings, and the room felt a little lighter. Then, we got to work.

We followed our coordinator’s instructions and soon got into a rhythm of efficiency. We had a line of operation where one of us would open the bag, the next would throw in a few proteins like canned lasagna or pork and beans, the next would add some apple sauce and a few packets of PB&J, and the next would tie it all up. Then, we’d toss the lunch packs into the rolling garbage cans with each school district’s name written in Sharpie on the side.

In just a couple of hours, we ended up bagging over 400 lunches for low-income kids in the district. Those bags would help families who otherwise couldn’t afford nutritional meals over the weekend feed themselves and their children. The program was established and the children on it had been receiving the “backpacks” even before this crisis began, but I’m sure that many of the families were more grateful for this small relief during these already-trying times.

What I am trying to do is urge others to get out of their own heads sooner than I did myself. If you’re lucky enough, like Andrew and I are, to have a little money in your savings accounts and support systems to lean on when that runs dry, then why not do something for someone in need? And that also goes for those who are more severely affected by this coronavirus! Helping others is good for anyone.

The French Riviera will always be there. I’m hopeful that Andrew and I will be able to see it one day, when this is all over and the world has healed. Until then, however, we’re choosing to give back, stay home, and have hope.