1 . On March 14, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic (新冠疫情) forced 57th Street Books, in Chicago, to close its doors. The store wouldn’t reopen for nearly a year and a half. During that time, director Jeff Deutsch was worried. Customers couldn’t come to the shop. His main advantage over online business had gone overnight.

Deutsch said he and his team were lucky. Customers stepped up. They offered gifts and support. “There was something very beautiful in the way our community came together,” he said. “We really supported one another’s businesses,”

Similar stories played out over the past two years in cities and towns around the country. Though independent bookstores were forced to close during the pandemic, many found ways to connect with and help their community.

Anne Holman is co-owner of the King’s English Bookshop. It’s in Salt Lake City, Utah. She said the store put books outside for reading and started doing a lot of events online. Other stores set up bookselling hotlines, and improved their tools for e-business.

Some bookstores did events that went more than bookselling. They offered COVID testing. They collected food for people in need. “Having an independent bookstore in your community is almost like a town square,” said Samira Ahmed, an author of books for young adults. “It’s an important place to build community.”

11-year-old Adele Sorkin, a fan of 57th Street Books, is on its Young Readers Advisory Board. Members receive early copies of books in exchange for writing reviews. “I think of the bookstore as a cookie jar (罐子),” Adele says. “It’s something special and fun that is always there for you.” Jeff Deutsch sees a bright future. “If we reimagine bookstores and do our best to support them,” he says, “then bookstores can thrive (兴盛).”

5 . One of the luckiest things in life is that someone offers help when you are in need. Such warm stories happen these days in our city.

We’ve never depended on deliverymen for our daily needs so heavily as we do now, when we work from home to stop the spread of the COVID-19. Some of the deliverymen were afraid that they would not be able to come out to work the next day if they went home and found an overnight lockdown (封锁) in their communities. So they chose to sleep under overpasses (天桥) or on park benches. Photos of them sleeping in those outdoor places were put online. The next day, the government took action and offered them free places to live in either at hotels, at schools or at courier stations (快递站).

Another recent case that shows ordinary people are cared for was about a bun (面包) seller. The man left a message below a post on the Shenzhen Municipal Health Commission (市健康委员会)’s WeChat account. He said he had trouble running his store because of the recent spread of the COVID-19. Community workers in his area paid him a visit to see what they could do to help. On the night of the same day, the man received an unexpected large order from his community.

There is a long list of such small acts of kindness in almost every corner of the city. It tells us love and care is powerful to help us overcome the difficulties.

6 . One 18-month-old welcomes her big brothers home from school in the most beautiful way possible.

Having spent most of her ________ in the COVID-19 pandemic, Emelia “Emmy” Muddamalle has grown used to always having her three ________ brothers- Liam, 10; Levi, 8; and Lucas, 6—around.

With the school year in Charlotte, North Carolina, now in full ________ her brothers are back in school for in-person learning, ________ Emmy at home with their parents.

“She never ________ her brothers gone,” said Emmy’s mother, Brittany Muddamalle.

“This is the ________ time. She’ll wake up from her nap (小睡) like, Where in the world are my brothers?’ and ________ them all day.”

In a video recently posted online, Brittany ________ her kids’ lovely reunion (团聚) one day after school. The video has since gone viral (走红), and has had over 4 million ________ and 75,000 comments.

The video shows Liam, Levi and Lucas on one side of a road and Emmy on the other as both run to ________ in the middle while ________ each other’s names. At the end, the boys ________ their schoolbags and give Emmy a group hug (拥抱).

“It’s such a ________ family moment,” Brittany said. “They just dote on (宠爱) her. They just do everything with her all day long, so when they were ________, she was like “What am I supposed to do?”

“One of the things in Indian culture is that________ is everything,” Brittany explained. “I’ve worked really hard at teaching our kids that kind of love.

7 . Get Digital Scotland, Simon Community Scotland’s digital inclusion programme, is proud to announce the start of Get Connected 100! This is a Scotland-wide project giving 100 people experiencing homelessness access to the digital world.

Our Get Connected 100 project will connect and support 100 people to get online. Each participant (参与者) will receive a free digital device (设备) and unlimited connectivity for 12 months. In addition to free digital technology, frontline workers at Simon Community and in our partner organisations are trained as digital champions to provide person-centred support based around a digital skills learning framework (框架). The project will give people easy access at all times, right in their pocket, and support to build skills and confidence to get online.

Research from the University of the West of Scotland shows us that people who experience homelessness are among the most digitally excluded (排斥的) groups in our society. This is a great disadvantage in life which has been worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to COVID-19 we depend even more heavily on digital technology for many daily activities: socialising with friends, managing finances (资金), getting the latest news, accessing health services and having fun. Digital technology has never been so important to our lives.

The project is being funded by the Scottish Government. Housing Minister Kevin Stewart said: “I am glad to fund this project to support 100 people experiencing homelessness in getting connected to the digital world. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us that access to digital equipment, data and skills is a basic necessity. The funding, as part of our £100 million winter support package, will certainly help people deal with the additional financial pressures of winter and COVID-19.”

Last year, Simon Community Scotland funded a “Get Connected Pilot” in Edinburgh to develop and test this approach. We wanted to make sure people facing loneliness during lockdown could get support and be connected with loved ones and professional services. The results for the people who were part of the pilot were life changing. 100% of participants said that getting a connected device and support through this pilot positively affected their lives. Our pilot showed that digital access opens up a whole world of opportunities!