Friends,
We sincerely hope that you are weathering the Covid-19 storm.
350 Fairfax co-chair Helene is hunkered down at Blueberry Hill, attending too many Zoom meetings to count and feeling gratitude for her Hungry Harvest deliveries and the Potomac Vegetable Farms pop-up spring CSA.
Co-chair Julie is homeschooling her five-year-old, working a full-time job from home, running outdoors as much as she can, and trying to keep up with the Community-Wide Energy and Climate Action Plan process, which is moving forward virtually.
We are both in privileged positions, and we recognize that not everyone in our community is doing as well. Here is a link to the evolving map of food resources across the county.
Meanwhile, we are working with our partners to elevate meaningful opportunities to help out in our communities during this crisis and to ensure a #JustRecovery.
Find below a call to action from our friend Jolene Mafnas, Virginia organizer at Food and Water Action:
Access to clean water is a life essential. Amid the COVID-19 crisis, this fact is becoming even more abundantly clear. It's simple logic: people can't protect themselves, their families, or their communities if they don't have access to running water.
Virginia's State Corporation Commission (SCC), which oversees private utility companies, has suspended shutoffs for natural gas, water, and energy utilities. Yet Governor Northam hasn't taken any action to do the same for publicly owned utilities.
Urge Governor Northam to protect public health by enacting a statewide moratorium on water shutoffs amid the coronavirus pandemic.
It's been three weeks since Virginia declared a state of emergency, yet Northam hasn't secured one of the main lines of defense: access to clean water for all. Six states have suspended shutoffs for all utilities, and more than 300 cities and municipalities across the country have already enacted moratoria on water shutoffs. It's time for Virginia to join their ranks…
Together, we can keep up the momentum to guarantee clean, affordable water for all Virginians! Please take action to ensure ALL Virginians have running water to protect their families and communities from coronavirus.
Stay well, everyone.
Julie and Helene
