Service in a pandemic

Leaders of local nonprofit organizations talk about getting creative at Rotary meeting

The leaders of several local nonprofits joined the Rotary Club at their regular meeting, held over Zoom, on Monday to share how they’ve handled mandatory shutdowns, social distancing and other public safety guidelines put in place because of the ongoing COVID19 pandemic while maintaining their services in our community.

“It really rocked our world, rocked our universe, rocked our community, and we had to regroup as a community as a whole — our nonprofits, our educators, our city government, our national government — we all had to brainstorm to try to figure out how we’d get through this pandemic,” said Kristi Lowery, executive director of

HOPE Landing.

HOPE Landing is a nonprofit that offers speech, physical and occupational therapy to children with disabilities. They also have non-traditional programs that help to develop children’s social skills and bring light to the abilities and talents of the children they serve. They’re probably most well known for their equine therapy.

Lowery said HOPE Landing was closed for seven weeks, from March 17 through May 3. Throughout their closure, therapists continued to provide services to the children that are HOPE Landing’s clients.

“Our therapists still came out and made contact with every single member, provided health programs so that our parents could try to carry over therapies as much as possible because we all know that early intervention is key and the children needed the services,” Lowery said.

Then on May 4, HOPE Landing was able to reopen for their summer program. Being a health care provider, the nonprofit already used safety precautions, but Lowery said they “amped those up” by asking parents to wait in their vehicles while their children received treatment, providing temperature checks and health screenings to children and rotating therapists around to children instead of the other way around.

“Because of COVID, we wanted to decrease the amount of contact children had with different toys, media and therapeutic tools, so the therapist goes to the child now instead of the child rotating,” Lowery said. “We sanitize everything between uses.”

HOPE Landing’s received some assistance from the federal government, like Paycheck Protection Program loans and CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Provider Relief, along with some local assistance from the Union County Community Foundation. They had to alter several large events and their biggest fundraiser for the year, and attendance has been down some, although Lowery noted that they served more children over the summer than they did last year.

The Heroes of HOPE Landing fundraiser, their biggest of the year, was rescheduled to Aug. 6; but when cases began rising in Union County around the same time, HOPE Landing leadership decided they shouldn’t have an in-person event. Instead, they decided to hold the event virtually and pair it with the annual HOPE Landing Talent Show, where their clients’ talents are showcased. They raised about $60,000, which is less than the usual $100,000-plus they’ve raised in the past, but Lowery was still optimistic.

“I feel like it was very successful,” she said. “Considering the circumstances and with it being virtual — and money is still trickling in every day — I think it was very successful.”

Lowery said flexibility was and continues to be the key to maintaining operations during the ongoing pandemic.

“Every day is really a new experience and I think what we’ve all learned the most from this pandemic is flexibility, creativity and the ability to adjust on the fly,” she said.

The Salvation Army was hit particularly close to home by the pandemic; the first confirmed case of the virus was in Corps Officer Capt. Elyshia Perdieu.

“We had no idea what to expect,” said Capt. Jason Perdieu, Elyshia’s husband and the other Corps Officer for the nonprofit. “We just figured everyone was dying from this thing, because that’s what the media was telling us at that time.”

Juanita Tucker, the shelter director at the Salvation Army, also tested positive. They had to shut down all operations for three weeks, and ask their clients who were staying at the shelter when Elyshia Perdieu and Tucker got their positive test results to stay for two full weeks.

“This has been a tough year for all of us,” Jason Perdieu said. “We also provide utility and rent service and three meals a day. Even though there’s a pandemic going on, we have needs in our community.”

Finally the Salvation Army was able to resume operations, but not without some changes. Perdieu said instead of letting clients congregate inside, they have to provide all assistance by appointment only, and meals are only able to be offered on a carry-out basis, which, along with increasing costs, has also made it harder to connect on a personal level with those they serve.

“For some people, that’s the only fellowship they have. It was really an oasis in the desert,” Perdieu said. “This COVID thing has really affected me because I’m a hugger. This elbow(-bumping) thing — I hate it.”

They’ve made the necessary adjustments, though, and are also continuing to provide a shelter for those who do not have a home. Perdieu said many who stay in the shelter are just passing through, but it’s a risk the Salvation Army staff is willing to take.

“I spoke to one of our clients yesterday, he said he walked from Texarkana and was on his way to Louisiana,” he said. “We don’t know what they’ve been exposed to. Our staff is taking the risk every day and it’s worth it.”

The Salvation Army is also a church. They’ve continued to provide worship services with social distancing in mind, and while they reached about 50 people before the pandemic each week, streaming their service online has brought upwards of 550 people to hear the Word every Sunday, Perdieu said.

“I’ve been attacked by spiders, rained on while I’m preaching,” Perdieu laughed.

He said while the year has been hard, he hopes that by coming together as a community, we can get through it.

“We’re living through some crazy times right now,” Perdieu said. “But I promise you that together, we will win.”

For David Lee, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of El Dorado, the day they had to stop operations when the pandemic first hit Arkansas is a day he won’t soon forget.

“March 17 will be a day that lives in infamy for us,” Lee said. “We’re used to helping kids, and not being able to help them was extremely hard on us.”

One of the BGCE’s first moves after shutting down was renovating the youth club on North West Avenue in El Dorado. Staff took a sledgehammer to a large desk in the game room and doubled the size of the area, Lee said. After that, they did wellness checks on some of the children they serve by calling them on the phone.

Virtual programming was their next step, and Lee said that was a hit. They were able to reach over 20,000 people through their video lessons, which ranged from art and STEM lessons to fitness and character-building classes.

“I know it was there for the kids, something to do while they’re there at the house and something’s better than nothing,” Lee said.

On Easter, instead of holding a community Easter egg hunt, they delivered eggs to children’s houses across Union County. Over 500 children participated, and it was so popular, Lee said they may continue the program post-pandemic.

“That was huge. We had a lot of positive feedback. … I’m very proud of that,” he said.

The BGCE’s first facility outside of El Dorado, the Smackover-Norphlet unit in Smackover, opened mid-pandemic once the organization was able to reopen for their summer program at about 33% capacity. While it would’ve been nice to see how popular the new Club would’ve been at full capacity, Lee said he’s glad they’re able to serve the children in the Smackover-Norphlet area now as well as those in El Dorado.

They’re now starting their after-school program, still at a limited capacity, with about 75 children at the youth center in El Dorado; 30 children at the Teen Center in El Dorado; and 45 children at the Club in Smackover.

“Let’s all pray for a safe school year,” Lee said. “Let’s just be prayerful for the teachers … and let’s hope we continue to have numbers lowering for the virus.”

Rotary President Dr. Derek Moore said it’s heartening to see the nonprofits in Union County still working hard to provide for the children and others in the area.

“It does my heart good to see those who are working with youth and working with families,” Moore said.