Years before the Covid-19 pandemic started, a couple helped me and my partner find a home. This year, when the pandemic arrived, they helped us to have meals at the table. In the past, Victor and Angie, working as property agent realtors, helped us to find the apartment we now live in, located in Queens. We were very satisfied with the assistance they gave us, but once the place was purchased and we moved in, the relationship between the couples ended, or at least I believed so. Years passed, and we did not hear more from Victor and Angie, until Covid-19 arrived, and the city went into lockdown.

The coronavirus pandemic has been changing the way of living around the world. Countless factors, including disruptions in the normal food-supply chain, have affected life, and basic groceries in many houses have become scarce. But this has also inspired beautiful acts of kindness among people. Even amid an unusual disease outbreak, people have been showing care for other people, and that’s the quality we as humans have been experiencing as a positive occurrence since the arrival of the virus.

In the middle of May, we got a phone call from Angie, asking if we would like to receive some stuff she and Victor had bought for us. It was a surprise when we saw they were bringing a cardboard box full of oranges, peaches, pasta, potatoes, milk, bread, soup cans, pastries, and veggies. Their generosity did not stop there. Every week after, until the city’s lockdown was lifted, Victor and Angie showed up with goodies and basic elements for our meals. Their behavior was marked by generosity, consideration, and concern for me and my partner. I am so grateful that there are people out there like Victor and Angie, acting out of concern for others, people helping people in times of need.

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Norma Constanza, a retired psychologist, is an advanced student in the NAP-ESOL Program at the Queens Public Library. Her teacher is Joan Walker. Born in Colombia, Norma Constanza immigrated to the U.S. in 1990 and initially lived in Arizona, where she received her U.S. citizenship. She moved to New York City in 2013.