NEXT DOORS {ahead of the curve}
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? Uniting to help during the coronavirus outbreak Tom Evans | Contributing Editor
The best way to deal with this crisis is to do what we’ve always done — come together as a community. It’s difficult to figure out where to start. I’m late writing my column this month because I wanted to hold out as long as possible, in case of some substantive paradigm change that would have been unthinkable even days or weeks ago. So I’m sitting on my porch on Sunday, March 29 as I write this, social distancing on one of the most gloriously beautiful days of the year. The juxtaposition between the natural beauty that’s begging the soul to go out and interact with others versus the unthinkable crisis that’s keeping most of us in our homes is jarring.
In less than three weeks, the world economy has crashed. You’ve read plenty about that. So I’ll focus on what we focus on, those individuals and organizations that give back to our community. So many of them are hurting. Some organizations aren’t able to function normally, some not at all. Many of the Valley’s most high-profile fundraising events, generating millions of dollars for those in need, have been postponed or canceled. The arts are shuttered. People have lost their jobs. We are entering into a period of unpredictability never seen before, with no end in sight, and with many of the public service organizations we rely on to help us deal with troubled times struggling to survive. According to the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits, in just the first few weeks of the crisis, nonprofits have seen more than $36.7 million in revenue loss.
