You've probably already heard from your circles of friends and family: the ones who will suffer hard are those already in economic difficulty, those who cannot simply shop extra and stock up, those who cannot afford the best masks, gloves and sanitizers. What can we do from within our home that will help those? One idea I had was we pledge to pay those who service us personally and let them know in advance that their pays will reach them. The rates of unemployment will surge in the richest of cities and in the most developed nations. Crime will surge. It is our time to do what we can. And we must do it quickly. Anything else that we can do to help?
I'll start with what I've been thinking for myself. As long as I am not laid off, I pledge to pay our gardener (who comes once a week but can't anymore), home cleaning ladies (who come twice a month, we asked them to skip our home as soon as I heard of community spread in our city), and will continue to pay kid's preschool. We stopped sending about 3 weeks ago to be safe. I called school and inquired about teacher's pay and guaranteed we will pay till we get over this (few weeks or months) and said I will get together with other parents to ensure at least some of them will be able to contribute. We usually pay our cleaning lady via cash but since movement is being restricted I have messaged and asked her for online ways. (Stating these here as a commitment device for me - not to be proud in any way. To ensure I don't go back on my own thinking.)
The poem on conscience (shared recently by Jayasala ma'am) reminded me of this thread and wanted to share an update. 1. We were able to pay our gardener for the 3 initial months when we asked him to skip our home. After which our city allowed them to resume work. 2. The team that helps clean our home - refused to taken even 1 extra payment when they did not work even after I insisted in as many words as I could. Their magnanimity gives me goosebumps even now. 3. We paid our preschool for 4 months when we didn't send LO after which we unfortunately had to withdraw from the school - since I didn't see us sending little one to school for the next 6months - to 1 year for sure. So kept my commitment for 1 but not for 2 and 3. Wanted to come clean after my claims above...
