The Food Project has been working hard during the pandemic to hire at-risk youth from the streets to feed the vulnerable in their community. We had been rotating through 18 youth, helping to provide jobs and workforce training.

After three years in a safe space in the center of this violent neighborhood, we always knew we could lose one of our kids to violence. In August of 2021, Troy Rush Jr., a founding youth, was murdered just blocks away from our kitchen. This tragedy made us stop and reflect on whether we were fighting an uphill battle that could never be won.

The week after Troy’s death, the unexpected happened when we had 20+ more youth come off the streets from three drug corners asking for jobs at The Food Project. We were overwhelmed by the flood of requests and felt obligated—if we could not hire them all, we must help find them work to keep them safe.

With the help of The Good People Fund, The Orioles and local businesses, we were able to funnel and provide transportation for 12 youth to full-time jobs with benefits. The rest of the youth we rotate through The Food Project until they can seek employment elsewhere.

It was unforeseen that we would lose our brother, nephew and friend, Troy, and yet unexpected that this tragedy could have saved many lives off the streets. (R.I.P. Troy J. Rush Jr. 2002-2021)

I’ll never forget the feeling I had in April of 2020 when stay-at-home orders were implemented and we saw our offices, gyms, restaurants and other community resources close. For most of us, we built home offices, bought home fitness equipment and downloaded every food delivery app we could find.

In our under-resourced communities, the ability to adapt was not so easy. Without libraries, recreation centers, schools and other community services operating, kids in these communities were left on their own. What ensued will have a long-term impact on these kids, and undoubtedly has led to the rise in crime we are seeing in our inner cities.

Despite working with community-based resource centers every day, I did not realize how critical these places were until the pandemic took them away. These buildings that we usually walk by without thinking much about are an integral part of our social fabric — especially in low-income communities where folks need a place like the library to use a computer, or a recreation center to have a safe place after school.

As we come out of the pandemic and the word “critical infrastructure” enters our vernacular, I am spending more time than ever advocating for the investment into not only improving, but also expanding these critical community facilities. I feel strongly after the past year and a half that the need to invest heavily in libraries, recreation centers, community centers and other facilities in our low-income communities is integral to bringing crime down and improving outcomes, especially for our youth.

During the first weeks of the pandemic, we knew the extent of new difficulties that community elders were facing: loneliness, anxiety, depression and deprivation. Even going to market — a place to see familiar faces — was something to avoid.

We decided to try what we thought might be impossible: equipping older seniors we serve with technology and know-how so they also could reap the benefits of togetherness. For those without means, we provided tablets and Wi-Fi, and all with technology lessons.

Mrs. R.’s experience exemplifies some of the many unexpected connections that emerged for the larger LiLY community during the many months of the pandemic. With health issues at 95 years old, she was homebound. Once Covid caused New York City to lock down, Mrs. R. became morose. But, she was motivated to acquire needed know-how and was finally able to enjoy several weekly get-togethers with her age-peers on Zoom. She now considers members of these groups her extended family.

Mrs. R. is not alone. Many of those attending LiLY’s Zoom activity, entertainment, or educational events have built on the social connections now possible though using tablets, computers and/or smart phones. Although we all look forward to frequent in-person gatherings, the pandemic has brought to elders truly unexpected connections. We are not turning back.

In February 2020, I attended a training in Los Angeles about a safe housing network created for formerly incarcerated people. I went with Ali, my four-paw companion. I sat near Frantz, a man with a great smile, who was from New York. He told me later that he left the room to call his girlfriend and said, “there is this older white woman who keeps talking to me.” She said, “That’s Evie, talk to her!”

Formerly incarcerated people are in dire shape. Most were already impoverished, but now they are food insecure. I changed focus to get them food gift cards and part-time jobs. I wrote grants with Frantz, the activist I met, to get food cards, and I also received funding for census work and voter registration, which allowed me to hire dozens of formerly incarcerated people.

The experience of COVID-19 made it clear to me that employment was the most important issue for formerly incarcerated people. Since small business owners build wealth ten times faster than wage earners, I focused my energy in a new direction. I created the first-of-its-kind online directory of services and businesses run by formerly incarcerated people, a public resource that will grow and endure and help support them through this time and beyond.

When the Good People Fund asked me to write about unexpected connections, the question threw me for a loop. The pandemic made fundraising more difficult and prevented me from going to Ghana in the summer of 2020. How was this anything but negative?

However, I realized that many positive changes to BTCTE occurred during the pandemic. I had the opportunity to step back and reevaluate the organization and how better to help victims of trafficking.

Since I wasn’t able to travel to Ghana in 2020, I reached out to our social workers and beneficiaries more frequently. This led to a deeper knowledge of the inner workings of the organization and resulted in important changes with our staffing and the allocation of various roles and responsibilities.

As an organization, we are much stronger than ever. In June 2021, I was finally able to return to Ghana and visit for the first time in two years. The love I felt from my beneficiaries and the progress they have made filled me with an unbelievable sense of pride. I was so happy to see boys that I knew become young men running their own businesses, and girls I knew are now thriving as women in university and pursuing careers.