When the COVID-19 pandemic along with the age of congregation members conspired to shutter the food pantry at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Springfield, a challenge was thrown down for someone to build a micropantry in its stead.
Don Ecklund, who had built the first Little Free Library at his home in Leland Grove and is the church s Habitat For Humanity representative, stepped up.
A couple of weeks ago as Ecklund was installing the micropantry designed to give people access to canned goods, box dinners and other food 24/7 he got a surprise visitor and a helping hand: Linda Justice, who sometimes attends the church and is homeless and lives out of her car.
For months, Aliyah Hashmi would watch her mother, Dr. Sayeeda Azra Jabeen, a hospitalist/internist at HSHS St. John s Hospital in Springfield, come home tired and often in tears from 12- to 14-hour shifts taking care of COVID-19 patients.
In October, Hashmi s grandfather and Jabeen s father, Zaheer Hussain, died in Bangalore, India. Six months before, he had been treated for COVID-19 and been released from the hospital, though the family believes the virus may have played a part in him having an apparent heart attack.
With a double punch to the gut, Hashmi, a freshman at Springfield High School, knew she had to do something.
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