We recently received this heartfelt letter from a client for whom we provided housing assistance at the beginning of the pandemic:

“It’s been a year since Boulder Jewish Family Service sent emergency assistance funds to my mortgage lender to help my family when the COVID-19 pandemic suddenly changed life as we know it. At that time, my family was shifting out of a lengthy period of uncertainty about the future related to my intellectually and developmentally disabled son's medical status. The pandemic threw us right back into a place of uncertainty.

That is why I am so grateful to JFS for rushing aid to families like mine. Your ability to gather and give emergency funding keeps our social fabric from unraveling. And it has had a lasting effect for my family.

Now, as our communities are opening, vaccination rates climb, and safety precautions lift, my family must remain vigilant and isolated from the general public because my medically fragile child is at high risk of complications from Covid. Our family’s experience in the world was already different because society is inherently ableist, so we know how to adapt, again and again, but it takes a toll. As people return to indoor activities and gather more, we will remain much more secluded, at least until a time when our children can be vaccinated.

Knowing that a chunk of my mortgage was covered last spring gave me the confidence to free up other funds I used to bring in help from an individual (as careful and intentionally isolated as we are) for a few hours a day, a few days a week to help my son attend virtual school and keep him brain-engaged and active. That meant I was able to focus on other urgent matters and keep our family from becoming overwhelmed. It helped me mitigate the risks associated with an extra-unknowable future.

Most of all, having an extra caregiver for my child, who needs constant supervision and support, allowed me to pay some attention to my other child, to take care of the home and everything associated with running a family, and to facilitate socially distant outdoor activities that kept my kids from the negative impacts of living apart from others.

Even though it’s been a challenging, stressful year, knowing there are resources out there when I need them, lightened my heart, which in turn let me look for silver linings in the hardships the pandemic brought. There were many.”

Learn more about our Emergency Housing Assistance Program.