This week was my son Dan’s birthday. I asked him what would make him smile. He said he would like the world to return to normal. I said, I don’t want it to go back to the “old normal.”

Right now,

• We are not evicting people. Many landlords are deferring rent payments to a time when people are receiving full paychecks.
• Hotels are giving people without homes a safe place to sleep with a TOILET:). • We are not turning off people’s water or lights.
• People are stepping up to make sure everyone has food.
• The Department of Human Services has simplified applications for SNAP (food stamp) benefits.
• A car company in Oregon has offered to service broken-down cars for free.
• In one community, they have stopped towing cars when people cannot afford car insurance.
• Fees are being waived by credit card companies when someone can’t pay.
• Unemployment checks will have more money than the typical 40% of your regular income (of course, they need to get the systems to work right so people get that money!).
• Troubled businesses are getting forgivable loans.
• The IRS has delayed tax filing to assist people who are hurting.
• More money is being given to helping organizations like Community Action.
• Colleges are changing policies and practices to better serve students being impacted by COVID-19 and Poverty.
• Student loans have been deferred with zero interest.
• Schools are partnering with internet companies to close the digital divide.
• Computers are being provided to students who do not have one.
• The news is covering poverty—Real poverty impacts, not stereotypes and myth!

These practices need to continue long after a vaccine is invented. They are compassionate and show the reality that there is nothing more important than people.