When Does Community Become Family?

When does a community become family? When there is a need.

As most of you know, our youngest daughter, Malkie, just had her first baby. She has been married just under a year and lives in a small 1-bedroom basement apartment in Queens with no washer and dryer. Her pregnancy was not the easiest. And because of Corona, we have been across the world and not with her.

Thankfully her in-laws, who live nearby and are amazing, have been very supportive, and we could not be more grateful. But we all know that all you want is your mother when you give birth, especially the first time. And I cannot be there.

Enter community! Our other daughter, who lives in Minneapolis, set up a “meal train,” and people signed up to make a homemade meal or order one sent to our kids from a local kosher restaurant. Immediately the first two weeks of spots filled up, and a nutritious dinner began arriving each night. Many were sent by the “Queens of Queens,” New York Momentum Community Leaders who have always been my “home away from home” when I would frequently visit there.

Today Malkie sent me a message: “I am signing up for every meal train I see in the future…I had no idea how much it helps people until now. It makes a world of difference.”

Many have reached out to me to say how their Momentum Sisters and Brothers have rallied to support them through these times — sickness, death, financial insecurity. My husband and I are deeply grateful and feel blessed that it was a joyous occasion that showed us once again how priceless community really is, and how now it transcends geography, miles, and times zones.

Thank you — we will rise from these times, as long as we rise together.