Friday, January 24
IL health officials
confirm first case
Illinois health officials announce the first confirmed case of the novel coronavirus infection in the state—the second confirmed case in the U.S.
Sunday, March 8
Governor enacts
social distancing
As the number of known cases in Illinois rose, Gov J.B. Pritzker restricts large gatherings of people to halt the spread of the disease.
Friday, March 13
Mayor Lori Lightfoot Announces CPS school closures
In response to the COVID-19, Gov. J.B. Pritzker orders the closure of all public and private K-12 schools in Illinois, starting March 17.
Saturday, March 14
By The Hand mobilizes immediately
By The Hand mobilizes to support virtual learning, assessing its inventory of older Chromebooks at each site to see how many can be distributed to kids who don’t have access to a computer.
Monday, March 16
By The Hand assures parents on last day before closure
By The Hand begins contacting parents to assure them that we would conduct home well-being checks, needs assessment and emergency care—and connect students virtually through phone and devices. By The Hand touches base with all of our families within the first week and conducts more than 1,000 home well-being visits during the first month.
Rodney is By The Hand Club’s assistant site director in Austin. He is a faithful servant who feels called to his work and devoted to his students. But when COVID-19 struck, much of his life was turned upside down. As the world stopped around him, he noticed the ache at every level. Within his community, there was fear and confusion as people lost jobs and income. At By The Hand Club, students could no longer go to school or come to club and parents had to scramble to figure out a new normal. In Rodney’s personal life, COVID-19 didn’t pull any punches. As days passed, more and more people in Rodney’s life fell ill. Then he started getting phone calls that friends and family members had passed away. He explained, “I wasn’t even able to grieve before I got another phone call. They just kept coming.” In total, Rodney lost more than 20 people. He says, “It was a dark time for me and my family.”
Sparkle lives up to her name. Easily. She wears joy and hope like armor against a hard world. As COVID-19 settled over the city of Chicago, Sparkle’s role at By The Hand came to a halt. She immediately knew that although in-person activities had to stop, her commitment to the kids didn’t. She asked herself, “If I can’t do my job the way I am used to doing it, what can I do?” Sparkle didn’t wait to be called on. She looked for places to join the good work already in motion. “I jumped in on the prayer line and helped do check-ins with our college students.”
Yasenia is clear and passionate, “It’s important for kids to learn about God and read about God, but more than anything, I want them to experience God.” It’s with that goal in mind that she plans chapel time and prepares Bible study lessons.
When the governor cancelled all in-person school events for the remainder of the school year, Evan knew his eighth-graders would be crushed. They had been working so hard, for so long, with one thing in mind: Eighth-Grade Graduation. The promise of proudly marking one of life’s singular moments in front of family and friends made the hard work worth it. And now, so close to the finish line, their hope was dashed.
Technology quickly became its own character in the story of COVID-19. As schools were suddenly thrown into a new format of learning, By The Hand realized that in order to keep kids moving forward, technology was a mountain that had to be moved. Blended learning required a specific set of resources, like working computers and reliable Internet. This created an enormous challenge for many children in and around Chicago, who were without the things they needed to participate in their schoolwork.
Bethany watched COVID-19 force most of the country to come to a halt. As businesses shuttered in an attempt to stop the spread of illness, colleges were not far behind.
It’s no secret that children suffer disproportionately during a crisis. Especially when education is disrupted and the chance for normal, daily childhood activities vanishes. For By The Hand, the urgent question quickly became how to care for the futures of children during a pandemic.
Martha is a reading specialist who works with children from the Altgeld neighborhood. Her kids had to suspend their weekly in-person, one-on-one meetings due to COVID-19 slamming the city of Chicago. Martha decided the reading progress of her students wouldn’t be another casualty. The kids had worked too hard to be stopped by a virus.
