 Sister Pat, we wanted to talk with you about the work that you're doing. You're such a community organizer that I imagine you have found many things to work on during this COVID-19 period. It is really very interesting, very different. You know, as a matter of fact, I thought working from home, I'm gonna have a lot of extra time on my hands. That has not happened. You know, I get a lot of, I do a lot of, like you said, community organizing, community building. That's one of the things really dear to my heart. And so trying to stay in touch with people and trying to figure out, you know, who do I reach out to? How do I do that? And it's taken on various forms. So I do a lot of telephone calls. I do a lot of Zoom meetings. I do a lot of webinars. And then I actually go out into the community with my mask and my gloves and my hand sanitizer. And I think about the other people that, you know, I want to support and that I think are important to reach out to and like some of the local businesses. So one of the things we've been doing recently is reaching out to like Papa Franks. And I call up ahead and say, could you, could I have six or eight lasagna dinners? And he brings them out to the car. And then I call different people. I don't go into people's homes. I, you know, I think that would not be safe. And it wouldn't be the thing that I'm supposed to be doing. So I call them and say, if you come out to the passenger side of the car, I can pass you out a meal. And so I do that. And sometimes it's people that I think really would need a meal. Other times it's to say thank you to somebody who really works out in the community all the time and always thinks of other people. And of course, then to think also of, you know, as I was going through the people that I meet usually during the week, I was thinking of our volunteers. You know, some of our volunteers come because they want a place where they can give and feel useful in the community. And then all of a sudden this isn't there. So, you know, I've tried to figure out how can I reach out to some of the people there. And one of the things I want to say is that people have been extremely generous. You know, I've been surprised by the donations that came in the mail, either gift cards and said, please give this to somebody that you think could use it. Everybody knows people who have tried to apply for unemployment and have not been able to get in and live check to check for week to week. And so that's been one thing or to get a donation that says, please use this for the people that you're working with in the community. I got a couple of anonymous ones, which really surprised me. But very generous. So it's really interesting to see how the community pulls together. Talk about some of the work that the volunteers are doing the folks that you're observing volunteers are, you know, actually calling other people or are actually saying, you know, when I go out, I can pick something up for someone else. And as long as they're safe, that's not a problem. That's and writing to people like we've had some people that we knew we know somebody that just broke her hip. And so, you know, calling other people other volunteers and saying, this person just had an accident, we send cards to them. Or, you know, so we've had a number of those things or somebody's birth that we had planned to celebrate a 90th birthday down in at the O'Brien Center. And a week before all this was supposed to take place, we got worried that we were not going to be down at the O'Brien Center. So everybody send cards and, you know, just phone calls, things like that, just to check in on people. I think that's important is the connectedness. And I think with this virus, we realize how truly we are interconnected. More than ever, we realize how much we need each other, and how much we have to keep reaching out. Well, the social isolation is something that you're very aware of because older people in the community tend to be isolated. And this is even more intense than before, right? Because even their caregivers can't come in to see them in some cases. Exactly. And so that's hard. We and some people are able to use FaceTime and you know, or Skype, but not everybody can do that. So a phone call or a card is really meaningful. The other thing I do sometimes is, and other people have done is, you know, pick up the seven days and bring it to people who usually want to be connected and usually want to read it. So when I drop off some food, I might drop off the newspaper with it. The other thing is like the other day, you know, Dan Higgins, he's a dear friend of mine and yours. And I, I said to him, how do you take your coffee? And he said, do you mean I pick it up with a mug? And he said, I bring it to my mouth. I said, no, you know, so anyway, I picked up two coffees and drove down to where he was. And he stayed and he brought out a chair, sat six feet away from me and I sat in the car and gave him a coffee and we had coffee together. You know, that's one of the things we do with the O'Brien Center every Friday, we have a coffee hour. So, you know, people always get together for that. And they're there from nine to 11 a lot of times. So you know, when you don't have that connection and you know, people bring their needs there or you know, pray for this one or pray for that one or do you have any resources? And that's the other thing that I think is important at this point is to share some resources from the hospital or from the from the state, whatever is available so that people know where they can get the help they need. And you know, the one thing that besides the social isolation, I think the other thing that's really important to look at is the stress that this has brought upon people. So I usually do a session called humor and health. Now I have a Jersey accent. So people say, what was that you do? I humor and health. So I'm working on revising that so I can, you know, some people have taken it before, but I think I can do it differently. So I'm working on a program online. And there are a lot of classes online that you can find that are not expensive. And there are a lot of freer ones now. But that's one of the things. And the hospital is also offering through the Freymore Center for volunteers and employees, some programs on destressing some arts at home that you can do from the Burlington City Arts, I think they have a web page and a Facebook page. So there are a lot of activities that you can get there. It's difficult. I was speaking to a young mother the other day, she has four kids in school to have special needs. And it's difficult to balance, you know, even with the Skype and things, she says, all of a sudden I have think I have everything settled. And then I say, oops, this one just called in and says we're having a meeting at this time. And you can't do it all at once. So it's challenging for people to try to get it all done. I found that time is very different. The time frames, you know, it used to be, well, you could call me in two weeks, I might have time for you. But now it's I'm not sure what day it is, just call me. Yeah, yeah, it's really interesting. Yeah, people are having a hard time. I heard somebody just a little while ago, I was on another Zoom call, or maybe it was on the TV, I can't even remember because, you know, you see all these different things. But saying, or maybe it was the radio this morning, somebody that that is usually teaching all week, and then has the weekends for, you know, doing different social activities. And all of a sudden, is home and says, you know, I don't remember what day it is. Or, you know, now the rest of the week just blends into the weekend, everything looks kind of the same. It's not as different as it was. So, you know, I think that's the other thing, how do we keep each other healthy? You know, what good self care can we do, making sure that people take time. Somebody sent me a little list. I should have brought that with me. I can forward it to you. But it's like, that 10 things that you should do every day, you know, besides making sure you're getting yourself up and getting yourself bathed and dressed and watering a plant or taking care of the animal or taking care of someone else, reaching out, doing something that's fun and being creative using, you know, body, mind and spirit. I think holistic care is really important. You know, we can't just go into working or just, you know, worrying about things we need to end. I think to tell people not to be listening to the news all day long, you know, some people say, oh, you know, I'm so nervous. I, you know, I hear all these things and, you know, I'm really worried. Don't listen to it all day long. You hear it once, you get the information and that's what you need. You know, and if there's something really important, you'll get the message. I don't know how many messages I get on my cell phone from the Vermont Department of Health and then I get it on my computer and I get it on my home phone, you know. So it's people are getting overwhelmed, I think, with a lot of information. And I think that we've had good communications coming to us and I think that's been wonderful. But I think for people who have a tendency to get depressed or to be anxious, to listen to this all day long is too much. So it's good to find some music that you like or do an art project and write to somebody else to reach out. I think it's really important. So, Sister Pat, you have, you're involved in a lot of social justice work. I don't think you're spread thinly. I don't mean to suggest that, but I understand that one of the pieces of work you do has to do with sex trafficking. That's right. And I wondered if you could talk about the kinds of provisions are being made for that population during this time. Sure. I can give a little bit. I'm not the expert in that, but I can certainly give the parts that I know. And I would just go off this morning at 11 o'clock we had a human trafficking Zoom meeting. And so one of the things that has happened because of the virus, people who were in direct contact with people who were victims, all of a sudden are saying, you know, oops, we can't meet. And that, you know, really is a trust issue for the person that was out there thinking, uh-oh, I was with somebody and now I don't have that help. So they're really looking on and saying, how can we meet differently? There are some funds available where if they call either 211 or Give Way to Freedom, those are two good numbers to call. Edith Klimoski is the director of Give Way to Freedom. And so if somebody has an issue and or you know someone who has an issue, you can call her and she will certainly reach out about that. There is, there are some fundings where they can put them up in a motel or a hotel and get them out of a dangerous situation. We never talk about rescuing someone because if the seller is there, they're going to make life miserable for the other person and we don't want them put them in any harm. So it's always to try to do something less traumatic. And so there, that's one of the things they're doing. There's also, you know, making sure that if, you know, sometimes with all of that's happened and then people all of a sudden don't have a phone, making sure that they can get a cell phone. So that's another outreach thing. To say they talked about people that, you know, that maybe have gotten out of a situation but are still in an unstable financial situation, being able to provide them with either gas cards or food cards, things like that, until they can get on their feet, you know, trying to help people. And so that they don't feel disconnected, you know, and looking at other ways I, we had another meeting at the beginning of the week with Kate Nicholas from the simulation lab at the University of Mount Medical Center and she's an amazing woman and she said, you know, what are we going to do? You know, we, in the simulation lab, they have standardized patients. You're probably familiar with that. So they have people that, what they actually do is act out a scenario about human trafficking. They may have a person that's been involved in trafficking and then they act out a scenario with a social worker or a nurse to teach people how do you recognize the science and what are the right things to do because we can make really, we can make mistakes when we talk to people and important thing is to learn from those mistakes. But since now we're out of the hospital for those types of things, the people that were working on standardized patients are unable to do this acting out, you know, or participating and working on the program. So Kate realized that she did have some funds available and she went out and got some simulation materials, things that they can do with a portable, a mobile kit. So they've got some telephone, not telephones, cameras and the equipment that they would need to really be able to do outside of the hospital some real training and continue this because this is important. You know, we're trying to educate people to what is trafficking. Finally, I think people are catching on that it does happen here. In the beginning people would say, Sister Pat, that doesn't happen here. That happens in New York and Montreal and Boston, but not here and now people realize it does. And there's both sex trafficking and labor trafficking. So, you know, and the labor trafficking happens all over the United States and we are certainly not exempt. And, you know, people come from other countries sometimes or from here as, you know, that's not, people aren't just from out of state, but people do come and all of a sudden they're not getting what they were promised. They're getting, or they'll say, you know, you were supposed to get this amount of money, but we gave you lodging, we gave you food, we gave you, so you have fewer dollars to take at the end of the time. So, you know, that's a, but there, I think there are a lot of different groups working on that now. There is another group that just recently has, we have for a long time been focused on the sex trafficking, but there are other people that are working now looking at labor trafficking. What does it look like in our own state and, you know, or around and how can we work together on it? You've been out and about, to the extent you can, in Winniski, and I wonder what you're seeing economically or hearing with so many of the restaurants closed and the stores closed. It's very difficult, very difficult. I, you know, I spoke with a few of the owners there, and they are being challenged there, you know, wondering how much longer they can survive this. I think the city government is really trying hard to, to do whatever they can to support. And even the ones that are struggling right now, I look at some of the small, you know, the places like J&J's. It's a small grocery store on Mallets Bay Avenue. They're reaching out to other people. They started, the food shelf in Winniski has, I don't know, doubled or tripled the amount of people coming in now. I, I drove down the other day and the people were all outside. They had set up tables and the food is all out there. But then because they're serving so many more people, they're running lower on the food that they have available. Their inventory is down. So one of the things, I think it was Mike Myers came up with the idea, why don't we, he approached J&J's to the store and said, you know, is there a way we could work together to help the food shelf? So they agreed on, if anyone goes into J&J's, buys $25 worth of groceries or anything, anything that the food shelf can use, then they would donate an extra $5 to each of those $25, which is a nice outreach. So if anybody sees this, I hope they'll reach out to J&J's because they've really been another community partner. So what are other ways that you think you would tell folks that they could help if they're watching in their home and their things they want to do? What opportunities are there to help that you would find? I think one of the ways to support the local economy is to order out a meal if you can or order a meal for somebody else. You know, you can call them up and just, and they deliver so you can do that too or get gift cards. So at least they've got some kind of revenue coming in and then you can use them later or you can give them to other people so that they can go. And I think, you know, whatever support you can do is really important. And I think to thank people for what they are doing, I noticed in seven days the other day, they had, I actually have it on my door. They had a big sign. I think it was Tom Lowe's that had taken out an ad and it was a thank you and it was nicely done and it's bright and big and so I put it on my door and it says thank you to the postman and to the delivery line people and to everyone, you know, the restaurants and the frontline people. So it's nice to see that and I think it's important for people to realize how much people appreciate it. You know, if you're going to the store because you have to and you have a neighbor that isn't able to go out or shouldn't be going out, maybe offer, you know, I'm going to the store. Can I pick you up something? Or even if you don't want to call ahead, just, you know, pick them up something that might brighten their day. I was thinking the other day, you know, this is the time when the daffodils are out usually at Trader Joe's. You know, bring something to them. Somebody gave me four daffodils the other day. I was thrilled. I came home and put them on my little prayer table and remembered them when I was praying and, but, you know, wasn't that kind? You know, I think it's all the little kindnesses that we can do right now for each other that's really important and it doesn't have to be big things. So. How do you keep your energy up and take care of yourself? Well, I, these days I don't get up at five. I get up at six. Yeah, I have an extra hour there because I don't have to drive into work and, you know, not that it takes me an hour to get to work, but I have a little extra time. Then I take time to pray and meditate for myself before I start the day because if I say I'm going to wait till the end of the day, usually it doesn't happen. I'm too tired and I just fall asleep. So it gives me time to just be grounded and to spend some time thinking about, you know, being grateful for what I have and remembering people who are less fortunate. And sometimes some, you know, while I'm sitting there some, I think, Oh, you know what, I didn't reach out to this one or that one. This would be a good time to do that. I love the Easter season because it's all these, you know, revelations and the, you know, the apparitions. And for me, that's important because I say, where is God working in my life today and what is it I'm called to do? What little piece? And I don't care what religion people are or if they don't have a religion. I just think that we are all called to be our best selves and to help each other. So it really doesn't matter to me, you know, how people pray or I've, I've been searching online for all different things. So I've, I love the women preaching. They have a Christus Corpus, Corpus Christi in New York and some women celebrants and there's the Catholic women ordained Catholic women priest. And you know, I know that some of the priest would not like to hear that and don't enjoy that. I think it's using everyone's gifts. And I believe that everyone was called to use their gifts appropriately. However you can use it to build up a community, I think is God life. You know, it doesn't matter where you're coming from, I don't think. And then I do, I do some exercise. I've got a a bum knee, but that, you know, that's not so bad. You know, I try to keep it moving because my therapist told me motion is lotion. So I keep trying to do a little bit. I'm not walking as much as I'd like to. So I have a a program on the internet that I can go and it's Leslie, somebody that does a walk. So, you know, and then I don't feel like I'm walking by myself. I like to walk with other people. And I like to have, you know, or exercise with other people. So I do miss that because I usually go to Tilly Drive to the steps, steps to wellness program. And so that gives me a chance to to do that. And I like to read and, you know, I've got craft school law. I probably just don't have a lifetime long enough to do all the stuff that I have around. Isn't that the truth? Yeah. Absolutely. There's so much to do. And your, your life of service is a real inspiration to us all. And I think there are, you know, many people that are helping and your point about kindness, even the small ones and its value at this time. And in fact, all the time. It really is. Yeah. You know, I, you know, I think about some of the homeless people too. That's another part that I usually work with homeless people. And there's one gentleman that I usually see and he's not around. So I'm a little concerned about him. So I, he may just be, you know, he's, he has a place to stay, but he comes on the street. So I'm trying to find a way to check in with him to see if he's there. But there are other people that are homeless and maybe homeless because of mental illness and they don't want to go to a shelter and they don't want to go to a hotel or a motel. And I realize that right now there's not that many people on the street. And if they're, you know, looking for a donation, it's a little bit hard. There's a woman that has developed a very fancy way of social distancing and she put a collection cup. She says it's a big plastic cup from Cumberland or something on the end of her cane. And she's got a stereoscopic cane. So it moves out. She said, I've got my six feet and it's wonderful to see her, you know, and she's always in good humor. Amazing. And it makes me realize that, you know, we don't need a lot of things to, to keep us happy. You know, sometimes just a little bit of connection. And, but it's important to have something to eat. And if you're not, for some reason, not getting your check and you don't have anything, then you need a little bit of, I think a little support. And you know, there are different people that would disagree with that. They'd say, you know, you shouldn't really give to people on the streets, but I think it's important if you know who you're working with and you know that they're not getting something else and they need to have some food or even if they need cigarettes, that's not my choice. You know, it's their choice what's, what's, what they need at that time. If I was on the street, I might be smoking. You never know. Are you satisfied with the work that this city of Burlington and other the region has done to support the homeless population during this period? I am. I think they really have worked very well together. I know that Jane Helmstetter is on one of the committees that I'm on. And she, she really had, you know, when she brings the reports and what they're doing, I'm amazed at all that they have accomplished. And there's a number of other people I can't name everybody but just really doing a good job with that making sure that that they have not only shelter but that they have food because, you know, if you're putting somebody up in the in a motel they need to have some food too. You know, so working with that the other people that are doing a great job with the food is age well. You know, with all of the meals on wheels and things that they're doing they had over 60 new people I think last week. That's a lot of people to take on, you know, to get first of all to find out who they are, where they are and how you're going to get the food to them. And a lot of their volunteers are seniors too. So who are another vulnerable population. So they have fewer volunteers right now but they're really working hard and getting it done. And like, you know, the homeless group they're really working hard to make sure that they reach out that they're, you know, getting the information and seeing how they can best help people so for a long term solution, you know, and I think that's what's important. You know, it's not just getting somebody into a motel or a hotel for a couple of weeks but how do we help them after that, you know. Absolutely. And hooking them up with other resources, you know what, if it's mental health sources, resources or whatever it is it's important. Well sister, I'm just so glad to speak with you. It's always a blessing. We've been speaking and she is a real activist and organizer in Winniske and beyond and we're very grateful for your work and thanks for your time. Well, thank you very much. I appreciate it. And I do want to say, you know, I'm really blessed to be working where I am. UVM Medical Center has been very good to me, trusting me to be out in the community to meet the needs that need to be met. And when, when we find something I go back and say, you know, I think this is something that we could be looking at and they really take things seriously. So that's, it's been great. Lauren Glenn, thank you so much and you really have a wonderful program and you keep this thing going and you've done this for years. It's like, you know, social justice and democracy are really important to you and we all know that. So thank you. Thank you, sister. Take care. You too. Thank you.