Whatcom group dedicated to helping neighbors amid coronavirus becomes 'a place of hope'

As Washington residents are practically home-bound in an attempt to stop the spread of COVID-19, Whatcom County neighbors have stepped up to help one another.

Sandi Heinrich of Bellingham had been toying with the idea of creating a Facebook group for people to help others as social distancing recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and health departments ramped up. On Friday, March 13, Heinrich took her dogs for a walk and created the Bellingham Covid-19 Community Helpers public group on Facebook.

Friday afternoon, there were roughly 40 members. As of Tuesday, March 17, there were 3,880, with spin-off group pages dedicated to each city across Whatcom County. Those all had at least 100 members each as of Tuesday morning, too.

Heinrich said she created the group because she felt it was something that was going to become necessary, especially to stop further spread of the novel coronavirus. Heinrich said she normally works from home, and is healthy, but that she knows there’s a lot of immuno-compromised and elderly people who will need help.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/whatcom-group-dedicated-to-helping-neighbors-amid-coronavirus-becomes-a-place-of-hope/ar-BB11mAMp?ocid=hplocalnews