Rutherford Weekly

Page 2 - Rutherford Weekly 828-248-1408 www.rutherfordweekly.com Thursday, March 26-April 1, 2020 Since last week's column about living in unfamiliar times due to the coronavirus, more people are sick, more have passed away and the virus is spreading, but we will not give up hope. I pray for a miracle this virus will be gone from the face of the earth and that not one more person will be sick. I will keep praying that and for the health of our health care workers, fi rst responders, people who are working to help others, my friends and family, in these days. I am thankful for every county leader, our health director, municipal leaders and others who are making decisions they never thought they would have to make. I pray for our spiritual leaders. They are bearing a heavy burden, perhaps unlike they've ever seen. I have personally witnessed the unselfi sh efforts of the hundreds of school personnel and staff as they have spent long days fi guring out how to make education work in the midst of a global crisis. Today teachers, principals and students are at home. Students are being taught with the direction of teachers, as if they were at school. Who would have ever imagined when Benny Hendrix, the former technology department chief at the Rutherford County Schools, introduced the one-to-one technology to the schools years before his retirement, just how it would impact us this very day? One-to-one applies to programs that provide all students in our school district with their own laptop, tablet, computer or other devices. Who would have thought those laptops would be assigned to the students at home until such a time they can return to the classrooms. Thanks, Benny. And thanks to the Board of Education and County Commissioners who supported his ideas. Thanks to the technology department for the countless hours spent preparing the equipment to go to individual homes. For the students without internet at home, the Rutherford County Schools technology staff has implemented WiFi centers at various locations in the county so students can log onto their computers there. We cannot imagine the hours this technology team has spent to prepare for students to be home-schooled for weeks or longer. As I said last week, I have a lot of educators and school staff in my immediate family. Last Sunday at least three of them were at work preparing iPads to go home with students as well as other classwork. For students without computers, thousands of papers have been printed and gone into their hands for working at home. They'll be doing that again soon if students must continue to be schooled at home. As one person said last week, educators and all of school staff had little notice to completely redesign what school looks like. With their hearts and souls in place, they fi gured out how to teach children, feed them and meet other needs in the midst of this crisis and they did and did it well. I witnessed one teary-eyed teacher walk into her home Wednesday night after spending the day handing out iPads for elementary school students and then packing up part of her classroom to bring home where she'll teacher her class. It was a sad day, she said. She was most concerned about her little students, not knowing when they'd be together again in the classroom. Until then, we will always be thankful for our teachers, staff, technology people, parents, grandparents, cafeteria workers, custodians and bus drivers experiencing such a radical change. Meals are being prepared for pick-up at schools and there is some delivery. One day 11,000 meals were distributed through Rutherford County Schools. All the rest of us must do our part to stay as healthy as possible and to offer a helping hand when we possibly can. As these days continue, we must avoid close contact with sick individuals who are showing any symptoms of the virus — sniffl es, coughing, diffi culty breathing, fever. We must use our common sense and take the frequent hand washing with soap and water more seriously than ever before; don't touch the eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands and practice good respiratory hygiene. One day we'll look back on this days of historic nature and be grateful most of all for those who helped others. Our health director says to stay away from individuals who are sick; to take the hygiene steps necessary, to practice social distancing and to be smart about where we go. A good friend in Charlotte celebrated his birthday March 18. On his Facebook post that day he said it was going to be the best birthday ever because he had time to be quiet and appreciate the blessings of living. He asked for these gifts on his birthday. I pass these long to our readers. What gifts can we give? 1. Be thankful for all you have. 2. Help someone in need. Unemployment may top 20 percent in the next month with all the layoffs. Help a family 3. Be selfl ess. Don't tell anyone, just help someone. 4. Commit to doing one thing of service every day until this crisis is over. 5. Check in on a neighbor. 6. Buy restaurant gift certifi cates and Order carry out. 7. Every time you think about the money you lost in the market, give some money to help the unemployed hourly folks who don't make enough to invest. 8. Show some love to our health care and emergency workers (pay for food to be delivered to them). 9. Plan something fun for the summer when this is all behind us. 10. Be smart and isolate yourselves. Let's fl atten the curve and end this virus as fast as possible. We need to get people back to work and get the economy rolling so stay away from others and stay healthy so you can care for others. 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GLADLY ACCEPTING TAKE-OUT ORDERS YOUR LINK TO YOUR LINK TO LOCAL CLASSIFIEDS LOCAL CLASSIFIEDS Carolina Carolina CLASSIFIEDS .com To our community, customers, friends and neighbors: Rutherford Weekly and Community First Media, Inc. have implemented a plan to allow us to continue to publish Rutherford Weekly on Thursdays as we have for 28 years. You can view our weekly digital editions at www. rutherfordweekly.com as well as the printed versions at several local distribution locations. We are also working vigilantly to ensure that our advertisers will continue to be able to have Rutherford Weekly as a vital source to get their message, goods, and services to our readers in Rutherford County and the surrounding areas. 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