Information and Opportunities to Serve during COVID-19 Crisis

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Opportunities to Serve Students and Families

Boston

Diaper, Formula, and Other Needed Products: Many families, especially undocumented families, have indicated a need for diapers, baby formula, cleaning supplies, and sanitary napkins. You can donate money or products to help these families with the needed items. Contact Ruth Wong at rwong[at]egc.org for more info on how to donated products.

Individual Technical Assistance: We are looking for bilingual Spanish or Chinese speakers who are willing to call families to help them navigate the system to access food, internet, online learning, etc. It helps if volunteers are comfortable with technology. Please contact Ruth Wong at rwong[at]egc.org if you can help.

Class Tutors and Helpers: We are piloting with an East Boston elementary school teacher to have classroom helpers for Zoom breakout groups and tutors to help individual students with online learning. Contact Ruth Wong at rwong[at]egc.org for more info. [No longer needed.]

Food Access: Sign up to help with food distribution and other volunteer opportunities through Boston Cares. There are BPS school sites, YMCA sites, but there is also a need for volunteers willing to help with home deliveries.

City Helper: Sign up to serve as a city of Boston volunteer to help with a variety of needs. If you would like to help homebound residents with grocery pick-ups and drop-offs or wellness check-ins, a Good Neighbor program has been started. [

Chelsea

Diapers: The city of Chelsea has asked for donations of diapers for the many families that are affected greatly by the pandemic. A church could collect a bunch of products from various people and drive the donations to Chelsea. Contact Mimi Graney, mgraney@chelseama.gov or text 617-831-8332 to schedule a time to drop off items. People can also ship items to the city directly. For shipments, those should be sent to the City of Chelsea’s DPW yard at 380 Beacham Street, Chelsea MA 02150. It’s staffed weekdays and is able to handle any quantity.

Food Packaging Volunteers: Shifts are Monday through Saturday, 8am to 12pm (longer timeframes feasible) Description: In support of the City of Chelsea’s emergency food distribution program, food packaging volunteers play an integral role in ensuring a consistent, uninterrupted supply of food for households impacted by COVID-19 and the economic downturn. Food Packaging Volunteers will advance this mission by completing the following efforts:

• Assist unloading, sorting, and organizing bulk packages of food
• Sorting and packaging small units of dry goods, in conformance with all health and safety regulations
• Assembly of cardboard boxes
• Adding food products to cardboard boxes, in accordance with the Emergency Food Program’s nutritional policies. 
• Labeling completed boxes with information for storage

 All work will be completed at a dedicated facility with limited contact with other individuals. Volunteers may be proximate to other volunteers, but this position does not involve interfacing with members of the public.  Please contact Alex Train, AICP, Assistant Director of Planning and Development with any questions or requests for additional information. Train, Alexander atrain@chelseama.gov

Cambridge

Sign up to serve as a city of Cambridge volunteer here.

Food Access: Sign up to help with school food distribution through Food for Free here. The Cambridge Community Center also has a food pantry that seeks volunteer help Tuesdays through Fridays. See here.

Neighborhood Pods and Mutual Aid Groups in Boston & Surrounding Cities/Towns

There is a MAP of existing neighborhood pods and the pod leader contact info. “Pods are hyperlocal text message groups or phone trees of you and your neighbors. Since not everyone has access to online communication or will ever see these google docs, neighborhood pods are how we reach more people.” You can contact neighborhood pod leaders to ask how you can help your neighbors, but you can also sign up to become a neighborhood pod leader.

See here for additional mutual aid groups in Boston & Greater Boston neighborhoods.