As the world continues to watch healthcare workers give their all in the fight against COVID-19, many hearts in Atlanta have been inspired to join the battle. Over the last few weeks, Mercy Care has seen an outpouring of support from volunteers and donors who wish to make a difference during this unprecedented time.

On March 13, Fox 5 aired a story about The Old Fourth Distillery on Edgewood Avenue turning alcohol into hand sanitizer and freely handing them out. By March 18, the demand was so great they limited free bottles to 2 per customer, and then limited it again to first responders. Partners for Home and United Way of Atlanta helped secure funding, and then a former Mercy Care board member donated more funding to the cause. Since March 30th, small groups of volunteers and staff distance themselves in the 10,000-square-foot unfinished space at Mercy Care Chamblee and have filled 7,660 individual 4oz bottles of hand sanitizer. Mercy Care outreach teams take the boxes of hand sanitizer with them as they work to lessen the spread of the virus throughout Atlanta’s homeless population.

As of April 16, Mercy Care had received nearly 600 hand-made washable cloth masks which were distributed to both the men’s and women’s Recuperative Care programs, our outreach teams working with the homeless on the street and to our clinic patients who want to protect themselves while going about their daily lives. A new volunteer making masks from the Chamblee neighborhood of Keswick Village said she had always wanted to help Mercy Care, and now had the time to do it.

Other neighborhoods, book clubs, church groups, and area businesses have banded together to make meal kits for the homeless for whom usual resources for food have dried up. Kits are dropped off at the Chamblee clinic where an outside box is in place to receive donations.  Since COVID-19 our Meal Kit use has nearly tripled and outreach teams are distributing over 400 meals per week.

Many have taken care to ensure the frontlines are well-fed, too! Mercy Care has received regular lunches from generous donors and local restaurants. Once a week for six weeks straight, Gathering Industries has sent meals to our medical staff. Morris, Manning & Martin has adopted Mercy Care Chamblee and plans to feed staff one day a week for the next four weeks. Other meals have come from Gusto Restaurant, Apple Spice restaurant (courtesy of the Upside podcast), Empire State South, Budi’s Sushi, Derrick’s Cake Delights, Georgia Feed the Homeless, Affairs to Remember (courtesy of SunTrust Bank/Truist), and Naan Stop (courtesy of Feed the Frontlines Georgia).

In every season, Mercy Care has been greatly blessed by the good will of others in supporting our mission. At this historical moment, we are humbled to know the same generosity has continued and scaled to meet the needs of our patients and the greater Atlanta community.