L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 26 L'Italo-Americano B u i t o n i , i n f o r m a t i o n a l m a t e r i a l s o n C o v i d , a n d tools for making life easier. Y o u h a v e b e e n s e r - ving the community for decades now, this pan- demic though is just one of the many times the ICS supported the com- m u n i t y i n S F a n d t h e Bay Area. How is this different from anything else? We soon learned that iso- lation was as detrimental to one's health as any other d i s e a s e . T h a t ' s w h y w e began recruiting volunteers, making sure we kept fol- lowing our usual rules, like background checks. Today, w e a r e a t 4 0 0 w e l l n e s s checks a week. Nonetheless to say, some calls just last a few minutes, while others can go over an hour. People look forward to talking to o u r t e a m - a s s a d a s i t sounds, sometimes we are t h e o n l y o n e s c a l l i n g o r making a check-in on them. You needed to adapt to a new reality, maybe s t a r t i n g t o t a l k t o a broader audience and n o t o n l y t h e o n e y o u were used to. We learned that a num- ber of young people in our community needed help, many in their 20s, 30s, 40s lost their livelihood just overnight. Some of these people come to our center to get a box of Italian dry foods so they can make it to the end of the week. Someti- mes, we provide financial a s s i s t a n c e t o m a k e s u r e members of our community don't go through eviction or have to choose whether to buy food or medical sup- plies. I could not be more proud of this organization, we are here to help - nobody is forgotten. Many events are now v i r t u a l . W o n d e r h o w you responded to this change. Thanks to these recent initiatives, we have seen volunteer programs sky- rocket. Everyone wants to help. People look for oppor- tunities to give back to their c o m m u n i t y a n d w e a r e allowing everyone to do so. My initial goal was to get help from all Italian and Ita- lian-American organiza- tions in the Bay Area. And t h a t h a p p e n e d . W e h a v e been working with volun- teers coming from the Ita- lian Consulate, the Italian Athletic Club, La Scuola I n t e r n a t i o n a l , I n s t i t u t o Scuola and Italian Cultural I n s t i t u t e . I s e e t h i s a s a "coming together" of our beautiful Italian commu- n i t y . N o w i s t h e t i m e t o come together and put all the efforts at the service of the community. What else should we e x p e c t i n t h e n e x t weeks? While we had to put on hold our regular program- ming of cultural events, lun- cheons and seminars, we are now serving the com- munity through a range of d i f f e r e n t i n i t i a t i v e s . W e invite everyone to visit our website (www.italiancs.org), follow us on social media to s t a y a b r e a s t o f w h a t ' s coming up and let us know if someone in the commu- nity needs our help. E a c h y e a r , t h e I t a l i a n Community Services, throu- gh the John C. Riccio Edu- cational Grant Program, m a k e s g r a n t s o f l i m i t e d amounts for specific needs to schools/and or organiza- tions with exemplary Italian language and curricula. Any school or organization inte- r e s t e d i n a p p l y i n g f o r a grant would send the appli- cation. This year's deadline is September 30, 2020 to be considered for a 2020 grant. SAN FRANCISCO ITALIAN COMMUNITY Continued from page 24

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