Aid Network brings neighbors together, even while distanced

Volunteer Charlotte Tuminelli helps assemble Care Kits for South Boston residents.

By Charlotte Tuminelli

This is a guest post by South Boston Neighborhood Aid Network volunteer Charlotte Tuminelli. Charlotte became a South Boston resident in 2018. She loves running along the beach to Castle Island and taking her dog Louie to the dog park on A Street (which he likes even more).

I think we all remember how unsettling it felt. Days earlier, West Broadway had been filled with Saint Patrick’s Day crowds in line for the bars; within the week, the streets were deserted. Foodie’s and Stop and Shop were running out of toilet paper, soap, and flour. On every block, restaurants and shops had shut their doors indefinitely.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March, Southie – like everywhere else – was shaken. As we retreated into our homes to watch Netflix, bake bread, and solve anxiety-fueled puzzles, I felt both increasingly concerned for my neighbors and increasingly unsure of how to help. I’m fortunate to be able to work remotely, but it can be hard to feel like you’re contributing to your community when the most important thing you can do is stay home! Like a lot of people, I felt helpless and wanted to do more.

At a time when I was on the internet more than ever, I found out about the South Boston Neighborhood Aid Network (SBNAN) through a friend on Facebook. In the early days, the SBNAN basically just consisted of a Google form to fill in, with simple asks: can you offer childcare, grocery delivery, dog walking, conversations with homebound elderly neighbors, or help filling out forms for social services? 

I pressed “enter” on the form, thinking nothing might come from it, but was so glad when I started to receive emails with subjects like “Help Needed: Groceries for Neighbor,” followed by a flurry of replies from people offering to jump in. It was encouraging and impressive to see neighbors organizing so quickly. I started signing up for grocery shopping and deliveries as requests came in.

In April, I dropped off groceries for a COVID-positive neighbor who was being released from the hospital. This particular trip took a lot of coordination. First, I had no idea what she would want, so spent too long in the store debating: would she think Doritos are as amazing of a comfort food as I do, or should I play it safe and stick to chicken soup? Then, there was confusion about when she’d be released from the hospital, so I ended up shopping too soon and keeping the groceries at my house for a day. When I did deliver them, it was in a nasty freezing April rain, with a quick no-contact drop-off. 

To me though, this is volunteering: it can be messy and require flexibility and patience, but my experience with the SBNAN has truly been so rewarding.

Support Our Work

South Boston Neighborhood Aid Network collects information and resources in one place, and connects Southie residents to programs and services that can help.

Our Care Kits provide Southie families with PPE, household essentials, and vital information about other local resources. The Emergency Assistance Fund helps bridge gaps left by existing assistance programs with micro-grants to South Boston residents.

Both rely on individual donations and grants.
Donations are tax-deductible.

In what’s been an objectively terrible year, we’ve all been forced to get closer. Compared to a year ago, I am so much friendlier with the people in my own building (my downstairs neighbors are well-acquainted with my workout habits... luckily, I’ve been doing more yoga than kickboxing lately)! I feel a sense of pride in building these close connections, supporting local businesses and getting loads of takeout, and making even small differences in the lives of neighbors in need. It’s only through our strong community that we’ll get through this.

Since March, SBNAN has been able to help nearly 600 people in South Boston, and more than 60 community members have signed up as volunteers. Many volunteers are lifelong Southie residents, but dozens are newcomers like me who watched things go sideways and were moved to get involved in our community. 

With what looks to be a tough fall and winter ahead, the needs are becoming more acute by the day. South Boston is now among the neighborhoods with the highest positivity rate, and SBNAN is seeing help requests steadily increase each week after a few months of relative quiet.

Thanks to the support of South Boston Neighborhood Development Corporation, and grants from the Boston Resiliency Fund and the South Boston MOMS Club, we’ve launched the Southie Care Kits project and an Emergency Assistance Fund to prepare for the second surge. Read more about these initiatives here.

If you’re wondering, now is the time to help out! Within our community there are varied needs and ways to help, whether it’s assembling care packages of food and household items for families in need, contributing to emergency rent assistance, or taking time to help translate materials from English to Spanish. Everyone can contribute something, and we’d love to have your help. Visit sbneighborhoodaid.org/give-help to get started, or email us at SBNeighborhoodAid@gmail.com.