‘Our shared humanity:’ Acts of kindness amid coronavirus pandemic abound in NE Ohio

A message of love from third grade students during the coronavirus pandemic

Two Brook Park third-graders, Evie Pifer and Deena Abdallah, left this message of love, constructed with stones and pinecones, in the driveway of Catherine and Ron McCutcheon, their neighbors who are in their 70s. The girls, who usually talk to and visit the McCutcheons regularly, wanted to continue to express their care while practicing the recommended social distancing. Courtesy Catherine McCutcheon

CLEVELAND, Ohio — On Friday night, Rabbi Josh Caruso and Cantor Sarah Sager prepared to deliver Shabbat evening services online for the first time standing in front of 775 empty seats at the Anshe Chesed Fairmount Temple in Beachwood. Like many other Northeast Ohio places of worship, the temple had recently suspended in-person services and on-site activities in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Before Caruso and Sager began, however, the temple’s maintenance worker, Sherman Jones, stopped them to ask if they’d like him to fill one of the empty seats, “so he could help us feel like we were actually praying with someone,” Caruso said.

“In this time when there’s so much anxiety and worry, and people acting for themselves… here’s someone who’s not even Jewish but is willing to sit there and be part of this community. It was really moving,” said Caruso of Jones’s act.

The crucible of a crisis such as the coronavirus pandemic often seems to bring out the worst of human nature: people hoarding and fighting over staples such as toilet paper, water and hand sanitizer, denying the severity of the threat and spreading conspiracy theories, and flouting rules designed to protect the most vulnerable from harm.

But it also, time and again, brings out the best in us. Our shared humanity, compassion and selflessness.

Ohio public officials called on residents to look after one another as they announced further social distancing and containment efforts on Sunday. In a tweet, Lt. Gov. John Husted said “Now more than ever, we need to help other people when we can lend a hand; lean on others when we need support.”

Last week The Plain Dealer put out a call to readers to share the acts of kindness they’ve observed during this unprecedented time of cancellations, closures and self-quarantine.

Examples like the one at Anshe Chesed temple abound: Neighbors are making sure older adults in their communities have what they need; Strangers are sharing what they have, even when it’s not a lot; and people are reaching out to make sure those most at risk do not feel isolated or forgotten.

Spontaneous, small acts make a big difference

For many in Northeast Ohio, the evidence of humanity’s decency has shown up in spontaneous, small acts.

On March 12, Dorothy Tufts, 78, of University Heights, stopped at the Shell gas station on the corner of Cedar and Green roads to fill up her car’s gas tank. Tufts, who is on a fixed income, had only $5 with her “and a bunch of nickels and dimes from my piggy bank,” she said.

“I badly needed gas for church and many doctor's appointments,” she said.

As she “nervously and slowly” tried to count out the change for the cashier, Tufts said, the woman behind her in line gently asked, "What do you need?"

Before Tufts could answer, the woman gave the cashier $20 to fill up her tank. “I was shocked with gratefulness and appreciation,” said Tufts, who began to cry when the woman asked her if the $20 would be enough.

Tufts asked the woman her name “so I could lift her up to God in prayer,” she said, adding after learning her name, “God bless you Beverly, thank you so much!”

John Connelly, 84, of Avon, had a similar experience at his local Heinen’s store over the weekend, when a stranger paid for his groceries without any provocation. The woman “just wanted to do a good deed,” Connelly said.

For 83-year-old Sally Joranko, kindness arrived in the form of a carton of milk picked up by a neighbor and dropped off at her home over the weekend.

For Bonny Conway, it was in witnessing two mothers with teenagers offer to share toilet paper if either ran low.

Catherine and Ron McCutcheon, of Brook Park, who are both in their 70s, were surprised by a most humble display of kindness over the weekend.

Deena Abdallah, and Evie Pifer, both 8-year-old third-grade students who attend Brook Park Memorial elementary school and live in their neighborhood, constructed a message of love using pinecones and stones in the McCutcheon’s driveway on Saturday.

“This expression of caring brought tears of emotion to us and we treasure the spontaneous display they created,” the couple said in an email. “We have been dodging the artwork successfully so far,” they said, by driving around it.

Online, offers of help

Messages of concern and support, as well as offers of help, are all over NextDoor, a social networking service for neighborhoods as well as other social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

From Painesville Township in Lake County to West Park on the West Side of Cleveland, neighbors on NextDoor are offering help with grocery shopping for older adults and the homebound.

“I saw elderly people today who could barely walk, going into stores to find they can’t even get their basic items,” said Holly Joy Cayia, 47, a personal trainer and part-time student who lives with her son in Painesville Township. “It breaks my heart. If anyone is in that situation, maybe we can all chip in to help. I will.”

In response, about 20 fellow neighbors offered their assistance with running errands and dropping off items.

“It makes you feel good about the community you live in when that many people respond,” Cayia said in an interview Monday. “I think some people are being pretty selfish right now, but certainly not all people.”

Neighbors have also reached out to support each other via email, as in a cluster home community in Richfield called The Woods. Resident Mary Kennard, 68, said the roughly 20 women in her neighborhood, most over 60-years-old, have gathered monthly in each other’s homes to share a meal and play dice games. Their most recent get together was canceled, but the women continue to offer each other support online.

“I am sure there are many neighborhoods just like ours in Northeastern Ohio,” said Kennard. “When you know there are others in the same situation offering care and concern it reassures you and it gives you courage, it takes away some of your fear and makes you want to help others even if all you can do is offer prayer.”

Ed and Robin Warren, who live in Lyndhurst, went grocery shopping for a woman in Mayfield Heights who could not due to an injury.

“The woman needed only four things at the store, so it was a quick and easy process to pick them up and take them to her,” Ed Warren said. The Warrens didn’t stop there, however. Once at the woman’s home, they did some “light household chores” she couldn’t complete on her own.

On Facebook and Instagram, Cleveland resident Katie Kurtz created a group called Connection Catalysts — 30 days of Connection, which on March 14 began providing opportunities for its 400-plus members to connect and support one another through avenues such as a “gratitude wall” filled with positive comments and photos, links to free online yoga and meditation classes available via YouTube, a virtual art class, dance party and dinner party via Facebook Live, and a weekly sobriety support chat for people in recovery.

“We know that social distancing is imperative right now for flattening the curve,” of the pandemic, Kurtz said, “but it can also come with increased isolation, triggers for mental health trauma and stress.”

Kurtz, who also runs Her Turn, a small business that builds connections for women through online and in-person encounters, said the response so far to the Facebook group has been “really, really positive.” While she originally planned to host the group for only 30 days, she said the group may continue if the social distancing remains necessary.

Delivering joy

Living in a nursing or assisted living facility can be lonely and isolating in the best of circumstances. The state’s restrictions on visiting, designed to protect this high-risk group, have only made the problem more acute.

In response, a number of Northeast Ohioans have organized letter- and card-writing campaigns to flood older adults at these facilities with messages from the outside world.

Leslie Ciammaichella of Medina is organizing a card-writing project for The Village of St. Edwards in Fairlawn, where her 84-year-old mother, Shirley, is recovering from a recent fall and broken pelvis.

“This isolation is so hard on her and the other residents of St Edwards, so I decided to start an Art Project to get them thru this time,” Ciammaichella wrote.

“We don’t know how long this virus will keep them in isolation, so if we can keep sending cards until it is over, I am sure they will appreciate it more than you know,” she said.

At Menorah Park nursing facility in Beachwood, Director of Life Enrichment Kimberly Skerl is organizing delivery of letters and cards for residents via Facebook.

“Imagine not being able to see your [family] in person, dine together with friends, socialize in a group setting or really come out of your home to do anything... it is going to take a toll so any help would be appreciated,” Skerl wrote in her post.

About two dozen people have responded, many enlisting their children to help with drawings and artwork.

Plain Dealer reporters Laura DeMarco, Mike McIntyre, Rachel Dissell and Brian Albrecht contributed to this report.

The Plain Dealer would like to continue hearing your stories of kindness amidst the pandemic. To share, please send them to Brie Zeltner at bzeltner@plaind.com, or via phone or text at 216-538-6140.

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