School abruptly ended.  Church abruptly ended. Visits from friends and family abruptly ended.  Dance class and after school activities abruptly ended. Casual visits to the store abruptly ended.  Trips to the Zoo, Library, museums, movies, parks, plays ... all abruptly ended. The sense of health, safety and security abruptly ended.  Life as we know it abruptly ended  and what we we thought would be short lived begin to draw out far beyond what we expected. 

The impact of COVID 19 on families economically, socially and emotionally could not have been predicted but Abundant Love CommUNITY Outreach finding a solution to supporting the whole family could be predicted. That is what we do. 

Abundant Love CommUNITY Outreach thrives on its awareness and action on matters that impact the Garfield Heights Community.  COVID 19 did not just isolate families socially but it isolated families from academic resources and basic needs, such as free school lunch.  The need for a solution was evident and urgent. 

Founder, Mom of 8 children (yes 8 children) and a local School Board member, I did not just identify the problem within my community but it was evident in my own home. Eight children displaced from their friends, family, school activities and family outings were a struggle.  Identifying community support and garnering access was a struggle for my family.  Creating new healthy norms, was a struggle for me.

I began to organize what I determined the most immediate need and that was giving families access to free lunch.   I began to mobilize free school lunch to families who could not get to the pickup locations.  Providing this service provided a need for the family and gave them an opportunity to have contact with a member of the community through service.  It also gave families a sense of hope and support having a community peer support them.

I eventually expanded the program to include Lunch and Literacy, in which I gave students access to books when lunch was delivered daily.  I encouraged and educated families on the importance of reading 20 minutes per day to increase literacy, vocabulary and wellbeing.  Having an increased focus on literacy in my home was proving to be a great way of us to bond and engage.

Finally, the program expanded to providing families with a book that every family in the program read that dealt with topics about COVID 19 and coping skills to deal with Social Isolations.  In addition to the books, families received activities that allowed them to express themselves through various artistic avenues.  Family portraits, role playing, painting, sculpting, writing, music and dance are some of the activities in which we used to connect our weekly themes with art.   The combination of literacy and art projects to support the literary content has found to be a match made in heaven.  The families are finding having various outlets to express themselves is strengthening their family relationships, bond and ability to cope.  Families are looking forward to each activity and the opportunity to have structured family activities to build their bonds and openly express themselves through the arts. 

In closing, Abundant Love CommUNITY Lunch and Literacy expects the following outcomes:

Literacy opportunities will increase for residents in Garfield Heights

Learning Loss should decrease/Learning opportunities will increase

Less families will go hungry during the times that school is not in session

Garfield Heights relationship/civic engagement, with its community and school district will be strengthened

Give families a sense of community support in the area of their physical, social and emotional wellbeing. 

Through Artistic Expression and Literacy families will have built a stronger bond with the relationships they have available to reduce the impact of social isolation in other areas.