These 6 Examples of Civic Leadership Will Inspire You to Act
Remember how we stepped up during COVID pandemic?
In the first half of 2020, many people claimed that “COVID was an opportunity.” With humans staying at home and wildlife recovering, we finally had the time to bake bread and reassess life priorities.
Of course, that’s the privileged perspective. During the pandemic, it became clearer than ever that while some had an existential crisis, many others were on the frontlines, fighting for survival. While business opportunities sprung up for the lucky few, an overwhelming number of people experienced a financial hit. Not to mention the healthcare inequalities that were exposed beyond question.
Yet, there’s a domain in which COVID was indeed an opportunity. And, I think we ceased that one.
What’s undeniable is that during the pandemic, people around the world stepped up big time to help each other. “We’re all in this together” was a slogan circulating the media, including marketing campaigns. In many ways, the pandemic was a renaissance of civic leadership and human kindness.
According to Jill Suttie writing for the Greater Good Magazine, “the main reasons people chose to help were that they felt an emerging sense of identity with those most affected by COVID, they wanted to be an ally of disadvantaged groups, and they felt grateful for those risking their own health to help.”
As COVID lost status of the number one issue and “we’ve gone back to normal,” we may be forgetting how we showed up for each other. All around the world, people of different religions, identities, and social background were showing solidarity and care.
Let this post be a reminder of what we’re capable of.
1. Café owner gives 10,000 Australian dollars to people who lost their jobs
Gestures of good will can be simple. But not everyone would be prepared to do what Pete Darmos did in Melbourne.
Darmos was forced to close his restaurant early in the pandemic. Shortly after, he saw TV footage of people queueing for social security payments, who lost their jobs and were suddenly left with no income. Darmos got what he described as “an anxiety attack” and wondered what he could do to help.
He decided to take action immediately. He went to a bank and withdrew 10,000 Australian dollars in 100-dollar notes. Then, he proceeded to give a note to each person standing in the queue, so they could buy essentials before their social security payment arrived.
When called a “legend” during an interview, Darmos said: “I’m no legend, just an ordinary Australian citizen looking to lend a helping hand.” He then expressed how grateful he was for what the country has given him since he arrived there as a six-year-old immigrant.
2. Artist sends 1,800 flower paintings to hospital workers
Food and medical supplies were indispensable during the pandemic. However, the less practical expressions of kindness — like the 1,800 thank-you flowers painted by Michael Gittes — might have been equally as important.
Sheila Arthur-Smith was one of the Brooklyn Interfaith Medical Center workers who received a painting from Gittes. As she put it, “People can donate food and supplies, but when you have a piece of art, it stays with you. It becomes a part of you. Michael Gittes’s lovely painting is something that will sustain me throughout this pandemic.”
The artist decided to gift the workers when he realized they might not know just how many people appreciated them. His surprise paintings, delivered on 13th July 2020, didn’t just bring smiles. More importantly, they’ve let the workers know how important their efforts were for the society.
It took Gittes more than three months to produce and frame all the paintings. As he said, “I guess that I needed to feel it was impossible in order to do it.”
3. Man turns his rickshaw into an ambulance
The emergency of the pandemic pushed people to act in ways they wouldn’t have otherwise. That included negative as well as positive behaviors.
An inspiring example of the latter is Mohammad Javed Khan, a rickshaw driver from Madhya Pradesh in India. After seeing people carrying their critically ill parents to the hospital on their shoulders because they couldn’t afford an ambulance, he knew he had to do something. He decided to turn his rickshaw into a vehicle that could save lives.
He got a cylinder and oximeter donated, and a doctor taught him how to use them to supply oxygen. He started driving patients to the hospital, for free. At some point, he faced trouble as police charged him for operating without a special emergency permit. But by then, lots of people knew about Khan and his rickshaw ambulance. They advocated for him on social media and as a result, the police withdrew the charges and granted him a special permit.
4. Two friends handsaw masks for healthcare workers in their town
Can you remember how, in the first months of the pandemic, there wasn’t enough personal protective equipment (PPE) even for healthcare workers? In the US, 87% of nurses were forced to reuse their PPE and 72% have exposed skin or clothing while treating coronavirus patients.
Two friends from the Mexican state of Chiapas, Gina Valdivia and Charo De los Santos understood this problem. As Gina said, “one of the most important things we need to do is to protect our doctors and healthcare workers who are in direct contact with the virus for they are who will fight for us.” Despite themselves being in a high-risk group, Gina and Charo launched a mask and gown-sewing line. Gina left her sewing job of 20 years to do that.
With time, they delivered over 1,000 handsewn masks and 200 suits to several hospitals. As news about their project spread, other community members started to help by donating materials, working alongside them, or sanitizing the workshop.
5. Braskem America’s employees live in a factory for a month to produce extra PPE materials
Civic leadership in the pandemic wasn’t always about launching a new project. Sometimes, it was about doubling down on an existing venture that proved crucial for the society.
In March 2023, forty-three employees of a Braskem America plant in Pennsylvania figured that what was crucial was polypropylene: the raw material used for surgical masks and gowns. To produce as much of it as possible, they volunteered to live and work in the factory for 28 days straight. This allowed them to work 12-hour shifts and keep the production line going 24/7. They eliminated the risk of contracting coronavirus by not leaving the factory.
“No one told them they had to do it,” said Mark Nikolich, the Braskem America CEO. The employees initiative was driven by the desire to help, and the understanding that more PPE was needed.
Upon exiting the plant four weeks later, the Braskem America plants in Pennsylvania and West Virginia have produced 40 million pounds of polypropylene. That amount was enough to produce 1.5 billion surgical masks.
6. Community organizes a thank-you party for garbage collectors
During the pandemic, “frontline workers” often meant healthcare practitioners and shop assistants. But there were other essential services provided — sometimes so seamlessly that we forgot about them. One profession people rarely acknowledged was garbage collectors.
But the community of Miami Beach neighborhood did remembers. They threw a thank-you street party for two men who collected trash from the area. Saul Scruggs and Keon Richardson were well-known in their neighborhood. Aside from diligently doing their job, they also used every opportunity to contribute in other ways.
According to the Good News Network, “[o]ne day, Saul spent 45 minutes helping a neighbor dig through her trash to help her look for her lost wedding ring. He also waited over an hour with another neighbor who was having heart issues and needed an ambulance.” Both men were well-respected by the community as those who “bring an incredible, positive energy to the entire neighborhood.”
In June 2020, a crowd of residents got up early to greet Saul and Keon on the street as the two men drove to work. They brought balloons, signs, and words of appreciation to let Saul and Keon know important they were.
Let’s not waste lessons from the pandemic
The above stories are just a tip of the iceberg. There are countless other examples of people supporting each other in the pandemic. According to sociologists, solidarity is a natural human response to a crisis.
Authors of a paper studying prosocial behaviors during the COVID pandemic recognize that the crisis of authority can deepen solidarity even more:
“When people experience ignorance and mismanagement from authorities, they can share an emergent identity and support each other for different types of needs. To deal with the negative effects of the emergency (…), “individual reactions” of affected people can become “shared reactions” (…). In consequence, these shared reactions might lead them to help each other through different types of needs such as material (e.g., medical supplements), emotional (e.g., sense of community belonging), and psychological needs (e.g., overcoming trauma).”
In other words, a crisis seems to encourage us to focus on similarities rather than differences. This leads to an increase in empathy — and, consequently, a rise in civic leadership and community support.
We’ve just been through a major crisis that helped us come closer to each other. We’ve learned a lot in terms of caring for each other. We understood that our lives are interconnected, and how much we depend on other people.
Let’s not waste these lessons. Let’s put them to action.
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