(CNN) – Amid the desperate crowds and sparse shelves at supermarkets across the country, there is grace in the aisles. Jayde Powell is a “shopping angel,” and she and her growing army of volunteers are providing free grocery delivery to the sick and elderly.
Powell is an honor student at the University of Nevada, Reno. She got the idea to organize a few volunteers to help out during the pandemic when her mother mentioned calling elderly neighbors to see whether they needed anything.
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She started “Shopping Angels” by enlisting about 20 members of her medical fraternity, Phi Delta Epsilon. As need grew, she reached out to other classmates and turned to social media to recruit more. But Powell credits her interview with CNN affiliate KVVU for putting Shopping Angels on the national scene.
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Since March 13, the 20-year-old has been diligently connecting volunteers across the country with people in need through email, phone and Facebook.
Some clients give their angel a shopping list, budget and money to cover the purchase. Other clients purchase their groceries online, and a shopping angel does the pickup.
With many older adults living in poverty, Powell said she doesn’t want anyone to be afraid to reach out because of their budget.
“We don’t want money to be a deterrent,” she explained. “If you cannot afford toilet paper or something like that, you’re still to reach out to us.”
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Jayde Powell is a "shopping angel," and she and her growing army of volunteers are providing free grocery delivery to sick and elderly people who have been left isolated by the coronavirus pandemic. https://t.co/yT9MscFcx3
— CNN (@CNN) March 21, 2020
Wish we had this sort of thing in my neck of the woods. I’m supposed to stay home, but while the one and only supermarket here offers delivery, there is at least a week’s wait to schedule a date and time for delivery. The store is now offering a “senior shopping hour” for at-risk shoppers, but it’s 6-7 am and only Monday-Wednesday. I could, I suppose, bite the bullet and roll out of bed early, but I don’t drive, so I would have to take the bus and be in the store with other shoppers, so shopping will continue to be risky on both fronts. I don’t have anyone to shop for me, so it looks like I will have to continue taking the risk.
Anyway, bravo to Miss Powell for her ingenuity and generosity toward the elderly and other at-risk people at this difficult time. Sometimes it takes a crisis to bring out the best in people.
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