"It was nice to be around people, but it also wasn’t like we were doing this really fun thing. It was like we were doing this thing we had to do because the state has failed, or like the support systems weren’t there.”
“I don’t want to make it sound like it was a party, because it definitely wasn’t. But that was a time where people were uniquely isolated and uniquely stressed, so you would share things that you wouldn’t normally. My interactions, from what I remember, was like –the question 'how are you doing' was so loaded. People, if they were not dealing with COVID scares themselves, had family members who were. It was both a social atmosphere but also a stressful one to navigate. Either because it was just like...we don’t know what’s happening; there’s so much uncertainty. We’re doing things that feel necessary but...it does kind of feel like a ‘bandage’ solution even though I think it’s meaningful. On top of that, packaging all of the bags was generally like a lot of work. It felt like a lot of focus to assemble these kits, and do it all correctly, and then you’re in an environment with a lot of bleach, and you’re wearing two masks, and you’re wearing gloves. In the midst of that I think there were opportunities for levity or to just like connect or reconnect, and ask how people’s lives are doing and what they’re working on, and celebrate things, or mourn things. So it was like a very emotionally mixed environment that felt good at times, kind of bad at times.”
