March 14, 2020

Dear Lents community members, 

As our local community and much of the world are now dealing with an unprecedented public health crisis, we want you to know that your neighborhood association board of volunteers cares about your well being and takes very seriously the need to prevent the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) and keep our community safe.

Following the guidance from our local and state elected officials regarding social distancing, we have decided to proactively cancel all meetings and gatherings for the remainder of this month, including our board meeting and general membership meeting. We will update you about plans for April and beyond in the coming weeks.

At this time, we want to echo our support for the measures taken by our state and local officials and health authorities to slow down the spread of this virus. We encourage everyone in our community to follow recommended best practices:

-Cancel all non-essential in-person meetings and gatherings

-Stay home as much as possible, even if you are not sick

-Wash hands frequently

-Cover mouths when coughing or sneezing

-Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily

Additionally, we encourage you to:

Be mindful of how fear and anxiety can lead to social stigma: don’t join in racism and xenophobia. A person’s ethnicity, language or association with a country or region is not a risk factor for this virus. More on this here. 

Reach out to the members of our community most vulnerable to the virus. The CDC has recommended that people over 60 and folks who have underlying health conditions stay home if possible and avoid crowds.  If you are young and/or relatively healthy, don’t forget to check on relatives and neighbors who have a chronic illness, a disability, and older adults who might be self-isolating at home. We can always check in on loved ones and community members with a message, call, or FaceTime. 

Stay informed — and make sure that your information is coming from trusted sources. 

The most up-to-date information on COVID-19 is available here: 

• Call 2-1-1 from a mobile phone, 503-222-5555 from a land line, or email help@211.com for general information. 
• Multnomah County Health Department
• Clackamas County Health Department
• Washington County Health Department
• OHA Emerging Respiratory Disease page
• CDC COVID-19 page
• CDC travel notice
• WHO page

Look for the help. If you’re feeling the anxiety and stress over the coronavirus, you are not alone. The good news is that we are seeing local communities, businesses, organizations, and agencies come together to help those in need in an unprecedented way, with acts of love and generosity, such as mutual aid groups that are setting up deliveries and childcare. 

Take advantage of our resources. We have set up a dedicated page on our website, lentsneighborhoodassociation.com/coronavirus-covid-19, where we will do our best to link some of these resources, mutual aid, and support as we become aware of them. Our goal is to keep track in one place of news and information that’s pertinent to our local community and that people can access even if they are not on social media. If you come across info that you think would be useful to your community, please send it our way.

Finally, we are calling on all other Lents-area organizations and businesses who are in positions of power to join forces in advocating for policy changes on behalf of those who are the most vulnerable amongst us (medically or financially) and who will likely be the most affected by the coronavirus, such as caregivers, immigrants, refugees, low-income families, folks with disabilities, and those who are housing insecure. If you would like our support with your advocacy, please reach out to us.

We encourage you to think of ways in which we can all cultivate our support network online, while maintaining social distancing in a physical sense.

In solidarity,

Sabina Urdes
President, Lents Neighborhood Association

Robert Schultz
Public Safety Chair, Lents Neighborhood Association