Life After Lockdown – Kindness after lockdown

Lockdown has brought out the best and worst of human nature. We’ve seen fights over toilet paper and acts of generosity and kindness in the same day.

For some, isolation was an opportunity to enjoy the simple pleasures around home and our community. For others it's caused significant strain and hardship, impacting all parts of life, from finances to mental health.

One community project brought these groups of people together with a spare cupboard and some pantry staples. The Newtown Blessing Box and the community surrounding it is an example of incredible generosity triggered by COVID-19. Upon seeing an opportunity to help, two members of the UTS Startup community, Michelle Gomes and Maureen Lee (and their roommate Joyce) used their entrepreneurial skills to ignite the imagination of the Newtown community and help their neighbours finding it tough.

In this special Life After Lockdown event, we’ll explore how the community responded positively to COVID-19 and how we can keep the momentum going for the future. The panel will feature the founders of the Newtown Blessing Box, Helen Silvia, CEO, Women's and Girls' Emergency Centre (WAGEC) and  UTS's  Volunteering and Training Coordinator, Alex Connor. The discussion will be moderated by UTS’s Executive Director of Social Justice, and former MP, Verity Firth.

We will open to Q&A and comments during this interactive online event.

 

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Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.