Your friends at UUCP have been giving some thought to the pesky plague now dubbed our Pandemic – and what to do about it. Among their solutions: Talk a little, be funny, tell stories, bang the gong and stitch. Let’s see if these might work for you.
Being isolated at the Riviera 615 Condominium doesn’t mean you can’t get together and cheer, thinks Dolly Berthelot, who since early April has been leading residents in her “cooked up” 11 a.m. daily “Balcony Wave and Shout Party against the Pandemic,” conducted individually from residents’ balconies, all of which face Pensacola Bay and the Riviera pool. Early on, says Dolly, “with just a day or two notice, about half the place came out and enjoyed a great release, clapping, waving, leaning over to greet others on their balcony, and me with a mike cheering them on.” And the spirit was contagious, setting off Happy Birthday parties, even dancing on balconies.
Dolly serves as head of a new Communication Team at the Riviera, and is founding editor of a publication for the residence, RIV Life. “Since I and many of our 140 residents are aging and vulnerable to Covid-19, we are isolating, many of us living/staying alone with almost no human contacts,” says Dolly. So she has taken on her role “to help increase safety, nourish community and uplift spirits.” Cheers, Dolly!
Laura Keith King’s sewing machine has logged more hours since March than in its whole previous life, says Laura. Under production: “I’ve been sewing face masks like crazy” — some 351 masks to date. The impetus came when Laura in March joined an ad hoc Facebook organization called Pensacola Mask Sewers, which has grown to 2,915 members and as of Saturday, May 16, had distributed 27,759 masks, plus gowns and scrub caps.
Laura’s masks not only were handed out through Pensacola Mask Sewers, but many also went to friends, including some from UUCP; Deb Dubose and Pam Ubben delivered 65 to a group serving people who are homeless.
The project has been fun and fulfilling, says Laura. “And not only have I been rewarded by feeling good and keeping busy, but one neighbor’s friend left me several dozen of her chickens’ eggs and my goat-farming cousin in Maine sent me a generous assortment of her delicious hand-crafted Chevre cheese.”
Need a mask? “It will make me happy to send some of my masks your way,” says Laura.
Having trouble staying awake late-night – or tallying politics here and abroad from a famous and reliable source? Try “Amanpour and Company,” programmed at 11 p.m. on WSRE TV, suggests Hugh Ed Turner. “She covers problems that the U.S. is having, including both political and medical questions and problems agencies are having. She covers it with experts, people who are knowledgeable, and including European experts. Christiane is both English and Iranian, and very international in her point of view.”
A Google search also tells more of Amanpour’s famed profile: She is also chief international anchor for CNN and “has earned every major TV journalism award.”
Time to let your hair down, sit back with your beverage of choice and enjoy light-hearted conversation? Then join Trista Blouin’s Friday Zoom Happy Hours, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. — and no heavy topics allowed. Conversations, which flow organically, “have led to topics like the weirdest foods we’ve ever tried or funny stories about our critters,” says Trista.
Reaction? “It feels good to just laugh and be with our UU family.” Crowd sizes to date: 6 to 14. Need a link to the Zoom trail? Call or email and Trista will provide.
Debra Dubose inherited her grandmother’s cedar chest, stocked with yard fabric never sewed, and Debra never knew what to do with it – until now. She divided the material between mask-maker Laura Keith King and another, Carol Cleaver. “This seemed a good use.”
Deb and partner Pam Ubben donated 100 of the cloth masks and 100 disposable masks, along with 100 pairs of socks and 100 insect repellants, to the homeless, mainly living under the bridge at Pensacola but also at Fort Walton Beach. And in the winter: hats, gloves, blankets and socks.
“We’ve used our stimulus check, tax returns, whatever extra money we could come up with,” says Deb. “But the needs keep growing. When we started doing this a few years back there were about 40 homeless to purchase for. Now it’s about 100 in Pensacola alone, another 40-50 in Ft. Walton Beach.” A friend, Rev. Booth Iburg of the United Church of Christ, along with several other 60-plus-years ladies, feeds the homeless every week at Lee St., across from Loaves and Fishes in Pensacola and under the bridge in FWB. “I would love for more people to get involved and will soon begin helping with the cooking,” says Deb. “The need keeps growing and we keep getting older.”