As we approach the end of Week 9, the COVID-19 crisis continues to ripple through our community, causing a degree of hardship many of us have never seen. Thanks to you, the BCF Safety Net has been there for our neighbors through it all, providing emergency financial assistance and referrals to address their urgent needs.
Because of you:
  • A single mother of five, laid off due to COVID-19, received a gift card to cover groceries and advice on expediting her application for federal food assistance.
  • A couple living in Brookline on student visas who lost their fellowships and are unable to return home, work, or obtain government benefits can now pay their rent.
  • An immigrant family of five, now earning only $350/week in unemployment benefits, was able to pay this month’s rent and get back on track.
  • A mother of four laid off and at the end of her savings was able to pay her cell phone bill so she could continue using it to monitor one child’s life-saving medical device.
Right now, hotline managers are hearing from dozens of neighbors like these who are caught in a bind as they wait for delayed unemployment and stimulus payments, or who have gone through their savings and face a steep hurdle with the next rent check.
Right now, thanks to you, we have the capacity to answer these calls for help.
There’s still a long road ahead
In last week’s special Town Hall, The Brookline Center’s Ian Lang compared the COVID-19 crisis to a 5K race that suddenly became a marathon. While we’re cautiously hopeful about improving statewide trends, we know that the impacts of this pandemic will continue to reverberate in the months ahead.
We can get through this. We will get through this. Especially if we stick together and give together.
If you have the means, please consider contributing again—or making a monthly gift to the Safety Net—so that we can be here for our neighbors as long as they need us.