Woman Volunteers to Do Grocery Shopping for Senior Neighbors to Reduce Their Coronavirus Exposure

Published

5 years ago

March 16, 2020

Becky Hoeffler from North Carolina volunteers to do grocery shopping for the senior members of her neighborhood.
She was concerned for the safety of the elderly amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
Becky believes that helping each other out is important for us to survive this health crisis.

The COVID-19 virus had sent people in their homes to minimize the transmission. While everybody is surly worrying about the health crisis at hand, you may want to be an inspiration by taking time to help senior members of the community.

Becky Hoeffler from North Carolina was concerned for her grandfather after their last conversation over the phone. He mentioned that he was going for a grocery run, and this made her worry since the virus poses a higher risk for the senior population.

The problem was her grandfather lives all the way in New Jersey. She could not help him out, but this made her think about her other neighbors. It was then that she decided to do the grocery shopping for the senior members in the neighborhood.

“Am I excited that I’m probably going to get a sweet loaf of banana bread from my neighbor, Patti, because of this, yes,” Hoeffler told WNCN News. “Either way though, I think being able to help your neighbor is one of the most American things that you can do.”

One of the people she had helped so far is Patti, her next-door neighbor, who had asked her to buy paper towels, fresh fruit, and flour.

“I was really lucky to find the paper towels—that whole aisle is almost empty!” Becky says.

She was right about the homemade bread. Patti had used the flour to bake one for her as a thank you for the deed.

Becky made her way at the end of her cul-de-sac, into the housing community for senior living to talk to people on their porches to offer kindness.

“They told me I could post the sign with my information near the mailbox station, so all members of the community would be able to see it!”

“No one has responded to the sign yet but one of the women I talked to said she will call me in a few days and is thankful that she can stop feeling anxious about having to go to the store now!”

Becky sent the word out through Facebook, putting the message out there to see if anyone in her community requires assistance.

“In these situations, when the community steps up, you really lessen the pressure on first responders and medical personnel,” she wrote in an email. “If you’re able to decrease, even by a little bit, the number of patients that have to seek care because they’ve been exposed to something, it’s good for the community as a whole.”