Apparently, as a mother of nine who's home-schooled all of her children for 13 years, Katie Young of Coal Valley just wasn’t busy enough. COVID-19 gave her the idea for a new project.
The 2000 Augustana grad – whose husband works in I-T for John Deere – formed a new coronavirus support group on Facebook called “QCA Love Thy Neighbor Coronavirus Support Group.” Since it started March 16th, it already has about 500 members.
Young got the idea scrolling through Facebook during this time of quarantine, amazed at the acts of kindness being offered.
"Here I was getting a little emotional reading all these posts about people wanting to help in this crisis that we're in. And love they neighbor, love they neighbor, love thy neighbor kept coming up. So I realized there might be some people out there who are not seeing these same posts and these same resources."
In the online group, members support each other with ideas on how to cope, including fun, educational videos, webinars, and other online resources.
"It's not just me with all the answers - everyone together we're able to help each other in whatever you're struggling with. And not just home schoolers - we're answering questions about isolation - do we go outside or do we not go outside - questions about which restaurant can we go to that have takeout, so it's not just about the education and schooling part."
And as she says, “Life in our country is complete crazy, everyone’s scared. If you say you’re not scared, you’re lying.”
On Facebook, it's called QCA Love Thy Neighbor Coronavirus Support Group.
