CareMongering-LakeChapala is a local Facebook page that went live this week with the aim of sharing and organizing grassroots action as the community faces the growing threat of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Adapted from the CareMongering group of Niagara, Ontario, the goal is to ensure that vulnerable community members have access to food, housing, healthcare and other necessities. It also fosters the redistribution of resources in case stockpiling prevents people from accessing basic goods and services.
To facilitate information sharing, posts are categorized by hashtags such as #DONATE, #OFFER, #ISO, #RESOURCES, among others.
Another new Facebook group is Delivery Lakeside, which is compiling listings of businesses, entrepreneurs and service providers who are offering home deliveries of restaurant meals, food items, pharmacy products and other goods.
A number of lakesiders are encouraging support for the area’s small businesses to keep the local economy from collapsing. One suggestion is for shoppers to buy groceries at small family-run stores rather than corporate big-box outlets that have a better chance of weathering the storm. Another is to purchase gift certificates or vouchers that can be cashed in once the period of social-distancing subsides.
In addition, many expat residents are putting their domestic workers on paid leave for the interim, both as a measure to help contain the spread of infection and a step that will allow parents of school kids to stay at home while schools are closed.