PHOENIX — During this time of crisis, a first-of-its-kind partnership is emerging here in the Valley and across Arizona.
Hospitals and churches are teaming up on a larger scale to help care for those who need it most, and the health care workers who are taking care of us.
Care For AZ is streamlining the process so churches and hospitals can get connected and the community can give back to front line workers.
Charlotte Bubar is an 11-year-old who made cards for Valleywise Hospital workers on the front lines of COVID-19.
“I know that you will get through this," Charlotte read from her card. "Let your faith be bigger than your fear.”
Dozens of Arizonans also created the cards by hand, painting pictures of hope for nurse managers, like Chante Neal and her team.
“To walk past the cards and read that people care and are thinking about them and rooting for them," Neal said. "The compassion that they’re constantly showing these people."
This delivery of cards, food and snacks for doctors and nurses is part of a bigger partnership emerging in the Valley.
Shannon Cox, a member of Scottsdale Bible Church, was leading the delivery.
“We would love to present Valleywise with these encouraging notes because we believe in you, support you and love you," Cox said.
Care for AZ has "already connected more than 40 churches with level one hospitals across Arizona," Billy Thrall, director of City Serve Arizona, said.
“It is a historic crisis, which creates a chance for historic care and historic compassion," Thrall said. He added that a coordinated statewide partnership like this has never been done before.
“(We) try to organize it so there weren’t 15 churches at one hospital and nobody at another hospital," Thrall said.
It's also a partnership Cox and her team at Scottsdale Bible Church are a part of.
“(The) Care for Arizona website is critical today in this situation because a hospital can put what their real felt actual needs are and then a church is able to see that real time, connect and meet that need," Cox said.
It also opens a pathway for neighbors and businesses to send their support to the COVID-19 fight.
“It’s really touching that you come to work, you do your job," Neal said. "You don’t really think about what other people are thinking about in the community.”
So whether it's coloring hallways, sending water and snacks to get through a long shift, or words of strength and peace, the connections being made now hope to continue long after COVID-19 passes.
