NEWTON, MA — Newton resident Linda Taber drives a city bus. She has become increasingly nervous about driving in the enclosed space, where the sound of someone coughing seems to take on new meaning amid fears over the spread of the new coronavirus. But when she ran out of disinfectant wipes to clean her bus’s steering wheel, gauges and radio, she was dismayed to find that they were sold out everywhere.

“The store shelves were empty …. I just sat in my car and cried,” Taber said. “I can’t even find what I need to make any hand sanitizer because I cannot find any alcohol online.”

Enter the Newton Neighbors Helping Newton Neighbors group.

Taber had just joined the newly formed group on Facebook to donate. But after realizing she was in need of help herself, she posted on the off chance she could buy wipes from someone who might have extras.

Within minutes, several people offered to help.

“Now that I won’t need them in my classroom, I have several packages of wipes I could share at no cost,” wrote one woman offering to help. Another offered aloe to help make the hand sanitizer, and someone else offered a full container of wipes.

“I’m so thankful for the people who reached out to me,” Taber told Patch.

It’s that kind of caring social interaction among neighbors that inspired the creation of the new Newton Neighbors Facebook group.

As news of the severity of the new coronavirus situation became clear last week, Shalini Tendulkar, a Newton mother of two and lecturer at Tufts University, posted a question on a different Facebook group wondering how children who depend on free and reduced lunch would be able to eat.

“Do we know what would happen to families whose kids get free or reduced-cost lunches at school if the schools shut down?” she posted.

She wasn’t the only one concerned: Within hours, dozens replied — many of them trying to figure out how they could help.

At a time when residents are practicing social distancing to stay physically healthy, Tendulkar was finding that Newton neighbors also wanted to help one another get through the crisis.

There was so much interest on that first question that Tendulkar, on a whim, started a separate Facebook group to do just that.

“I was hoping this would be a space where people could find more info on COVID-19, but also continue once this crisis is passed and support folks,” she said.

Shortly after the new group was started, 400 people joined Newton Neighbors Helping Newton Neighbors. After a week, more than 1,000 have joined from Newton and beyond, looking for help and how to help others.

“It’s been incredible,” Tendulkar said.

Right off the bat, the page was effective in helping gather moving boxes quickly for students who needed to move out of college dorms. In addition to the Facebook page, she saw a survey that a group of volunteers created in Arlington and adapted that for Newton as a way to connect neighbors who had resources with neighbors who had needs. Nearly 350 people have responded. She and three of the group’s moderators now spend the bulk of their free time connecting neighbors with each other and outside resources.

“I’m still scratching my head over how many people want to support our community and surrounding communities,” Tendulkar said.

Martha Bixby was one of the people who saw that first Facebook post and signed up to help.

“It is incredible to feel that sense of connection at a time of social distancing,” Bixby, who works in the nonprofit world, told Patch. “If we can think about it as connections without contact, it’s a great way to have some of that connection.”

The top requests right now have been from people worried about finances at home or expressing a need for child care. The next most-requested need has to do with grocery delivery.

“There was a local business owner with whom we shared financial resources, and when she got those she said, ‘This is really going to help me take care of my kids,'” said Tendulkar, who has been working with three other moderators including Bixby to coordinate efforts.

There’s a sense of urgency among the four moderators. They are in touch regularly, coordinating, organizing, making lists and keeping up to date on resources they can then help others be aware of.

The focus on solutions and helping has been a balm in very uncertain times.

“I feel so energized by this work,” said Tendulkar, who sends out regular updates to her core family about all the good work she sees. “It’s just been so exciting to see how our community is coming together.”

And it’s already become an example as neighbors in other communities look for ways to harness a growing desire to help. The new group has also received requests from surrounding communities looking to do something similar. One group will be popping up in Waltham and another in Malden shortly with similar initiatives.

“It’s going to be a long and very unprecedented road ahead of us,,” Bixby said, “and to know that there’s a deep pool of folks who can really come together going forward gives me hope.”

Resources:

Volunteering/Support:

Newton Neighbors Helping Newton Neighbors: For anyone who lives, works, prays or plays in the city.

Newton Neighbors Need/ Volunteer Survey

School meals:

Grab ‘n go meals will be available to all Newton public school students in need — at both Newton North and Newton South high schools — from 10 a.m. to noon.

Several local businesses, such as Corner Café Newton, are providing free meals to students in grades prekindergarten through 12.

Food Pantries

Centre Street Food Pantry, Newton Food Pantry, Arabic Baptist Church Food Pantry and Post 440 Mobile Food Bank are providing prepackaged goods for community members in need.

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