This photographic series is part of an ongoing project with “People of The Pandemic ” exploring how people find meaning , value and connection during isolation.
The government programme is called “My Aged care”, and my mother has gone into full-time aged care.
I can’t go up to see her because all the aged carers are in lockdown due to COVID-19.
I’m going to go up on Mothers Day and drop a gift at the front desk and go around the corner and she’ll be looking through a window, waving 15m away.
I live by myself, not much different since the lockdown, but I probably don’t go out as much as I use to.
I FaceTime with my grandchildren who are in Armadale. So I read books to my grandchildren over FaceTime.
My son said the other day that, these kids will remember this forever.
Hopefully my grandkids will remember the books I read to them over the phone.
Last week I brought some watermelon and it was too much for me. It was a bigger slice then it looked so I just took some up to my neighbours upstairs; a young couple.
A couple of days later they brought a container back with Chicken Biryani.
They asked “do you like it ?” I said “I love it !” Yesterday I did some Pilates via a zoom session with the over 60’s fitness group in our local area.
We’re called the “Legends”.
My legs now feel like jelly but its great fun !
So that’s the sort of thing that’s going on right now. And I haven’t had a haircut since the last week in January.
Costa Bockos | Sydney
We’ve always loved coffee because of what it brings to the table. It’s a social beverage. It connects people, families, neighbours and strangers alike.
We’re very close to our customers, because we see them every day, sometimes twice a day. This sort of relationship develops over months even years so for us it’s way more than just a transactional ‘here’s your coffee’ and cya later.
When the pandemic hit, what we felt most was the wave of emotional outpour from a huge base of people we consider more as friends, than customers. We trade in a quiet residential suburb filled with mostly families and working professionals.
Everyone has been affected in one way or another. Be it personally losing their livelihood, being isolated from family, caring for children whilst working from home, healthcare workers on their feet caring and treating patients day in day out… the list goes on.
One day a regular came in and said he wanted to ‘Pay Forward’ a coffee for someone who needs it. They may have lost a job, perhaps doing it tough or all round just having a bad day. It was such a kind gesture that when others came in to order and saw the ‘Pay it Forward’ initiative, it just took off like wildfire.
At one stage almost 100 free coffee tabs had accumulated. I have seen countless times customers who are themselves doing it tough or lost a job, pay it forward for a complete stranger. It really proved that kindness is contagious and people were thinking beyond themselves. I found this very humbling.
The other week a healthcare worker came in, I knew so as she was in uniform. I said “Your coffee is on the community today, we want to thank you for all the work you are doing”… she teared up. There’s still so much uncertainty today, but those early weeks were particularly hard to deal with for so many.
Without words this seemingly insignificant gesture spoke volumes of “We’re here for you, we hear you, thank you for everything you do, we’re going to get through this , we’re all in this together”…
For many who are couped up in isolation or working from home, Wolfpack to them has been that one piece of normality that remains their daily go-to in an ever changing world.
We feel privileged to bring a bit of ‘normal’ into peoples lives even if for a fleeting moment, that distraction from the world, that little bit of peace and quiet.
Now more than ever we believe coffee shops are one of the many hubs that can glue and lift any community and we are grateful to be a part of it every day.
Daniel Plesko | Wolfpack Coffee Roasters, Sydney