New nonprofits give voice to those who lost loved ones to COVID-19

Groups push to ensure grief serves a purpose

Trish Zimmerman and her dad did everything “right,” she says. They wore masks. They celebrated holidays through a screen door. They were careful, and they believed wholeheartedly in the severity of COVID-19.

But this past January, the virus took her father’s life. And now, like so many others across the U.S. who have lost loved ones to the pandemic, Ms. Zimmerman has turned her grief into activism — driven by the thought that her dad would have wanted her to make a difference for others.

A support group was where she landed. The Lackawanna County resident became an active member of COVID Survivors for Change, an organization that aims to prop up survivors of COVID-19 and those who have been directly impacted by the virus. Not only are these nonprofits giving the aggrieved a voice in the future of the country, but also they’re creating a powerful constituency group that could be a force in local, state and federal politics — including here in Pennsylvania and in Pittsburgh, where membership is developing — for years to come.

“I’m now my dad’s voice. He can’t be here,” said Ms. Zimmerman, who is organizing a COVID19 memorial for May 1 in Scranton. “The moment I stop sharing his story and stop trying to get people to understand is the moment that he truly dies.”

Ms. Zimmerman is part of a growing movement of support groups that aim to center those who have been impacted by COVID-19 in policy discussions — similar to how 9/11 survivors and victims’ families played a key role in the national conversation after the terrorist attacks.

The advocates recently helped lobby for passage of the American Rescue Act, and Ms. Zimmerman was able to tell U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., about her father’s story.

But the groups — thankful, nonetheless, that the government is investing in relief — are now focused on making sure the money from the package gets to those who will be most impacted in the long term by COVID-19, said Chris

Kocher, founder and executive director of COVID Survivors for Change. They’re also calling for states to prioritize safety and the recommendations of public health agencies in their reopenings.

Survivors of gun violence have helped train the group on how to share details of traumatic events to a lawmaker, said Mr. Kocher, who had helped build the Everytown Survivor Network and said he believes that personal stories can be a powerful catalyst for change.

A death toll so “catastrophically enormous” can be difficult to grasp, Mr. Kocher said, and it’s important to put faces to statistics.

Kim Letizi is one of those faces, and had to say goodbye to her father over FaceTime as he died from COVID. Her dad was 67, had just celebrated his 44th wedding anniversary and was ready to enjoy his newfound retirement.

Ms. Letizi, of Luzerne County, turned to the network of groups, and found others who wanted to turn their grief into purpose. She asked her local public officials to support ordinances declaring the first Monday in March as COVID Memorial Day, an effort that has been a focus of Marked by COVID, another prominent support group. Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto signed onto the group’s overarching resolution in favor of a national memorial day.

She also held a vigil and lobbied in support of the American Rescue Plan, and said she will continue to share her story and advocate for victims. As states reopen and life starts to take on a bit of normalcy, she wants to remind people that life can never be normal for families again.

“There is no normal for us,” Ms. Letizi said.

Marked by COVID was co-founded by Kristin Urquiza, whose father died last June from the virus. She was fueled by sadness and a deep sense of rage to seek support.

“I felt as if there was a hurricane trapped into my body that needed to go somewhere,” Ms. Urquiza said.

Others must be feeling that way, too, she thought — and she was right. Her group now has more than 60,000 followers on social media. They’ve held memorials. They’ve launched policy platforms. And they’re hoping to prove that they’re a constituency that is “not going away, and it’s also incredibly intersectional,” she said.

Not only is Marked by COVID calling for a permanent memorial day, but they want the government to pay reparations to victims, their families and essential workers for their sacrifices during the pandemic. They’re also advocating for a commission to investigate the government’s response to the virus, and some measures — like universal health care — to address inequities that were exacerbated by the pandemic and to rebuild an economy that’s inclusive.

Advocating for change while more information surfaces about how preventable the magnitude of casualties could have been is difficult, Ms. Urquiza said — but she’s driven by connecting with others to call for accountability.

As a result, what’s happened to the hurricane inside her?

“It may have been downgraded to a tropical storm,” she said.