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Employed Thanks To The Pandemic
Covid-19 got me a job!
When the Covid virus pandemic came to America, literally millions of people lost their jobs. But only a very few actually went from being unemployed to working full time because of the outbreak. I was one of them.
At age 70, I was retired and happily volunteering at a soup kitchen near my apartment building in New York City. Most weekdays, you’d find me there between the hours of noon and 2 P.M. giving out pantry items to the locals. All anybody in the neighborhood had to do was present ID and an apartment lease to score some pretty tasty victuals. Applicants needn’t demonstrate indigence. “Come one come all” was in full effect.
The church/soup kitchen was not hurting for volunteers. People would sign up on a phone app and then report to help. But then as concern over the virus’s contagion grew, school groups stopped volunteering and our steady group of adult volunteers dwindled to just two or three devoted individuals — of which I was one.
Actual employees and people who ran the program began to say things like “we really need you tomorrow. You’ll be coming by, right?”
It was great to be needed. But I’m not the kind of guy who likes to volunteer on a schedule. My attitude was one of “y’all are getting paid. I’m a volunteer. And I volunteer when the…
