Page 20 - Bulletin #67 - November 2020

March. Our Interiors team (with the help of the task force) has set up a list of areas that are
sanitized daily by volunteers. Some are helping those at more risk by doing their grocery
shopping, or asking around to see if anyone else needs something so fewer people need to go out.
Socially, our biz and team meetings have gone to Zoom (with a purchased subscription to allow
more than 40 minutes time).”
— Patricia Boomer, Mountain View Cohousing Community, CA, USA

Nearly all the communities who responded to the survey reported an increased use of
technology to stay in communication with each other. No longer able to participate in
shared meals or in-person gatherings (often the essential “community glue”) groups
have had to get creative about how to socialize and manage their community while
practicing physical distancing.

“Meetings that would otherwise have been held in person in our common house are now held via
Zoom or in smaller open-air front porch gatherings with social distancing. E-mail and a village
Discourse forum are used for asynchronous communication. An increased emphasis on
community supported agriculture in periodic combined bulk orders supplies food that may
otherwise have been bought individually from grocery stores. Shared meals served in the
common house have been replaced with virtual meals in which smaller groupings of residents eat
meals prepared in their individual townhouses while sharing a discussion via Zoom. Some village
residents participate in a silent meditative walk through the village in the evening.”
— Todd Lewis, Shepherd Village, West Virginia, USA 20

“We have also tried having Common Meals where one house cooks, then neighbors bring dishes to
be filled, which they take home to eat. The cooks find this unfulfilling because most of the fun of
Common Meals is the camaraderie of cooking and eating together. We are going to try a Zoom
Common Meal where everyone makes the “same” meal and shares time with each other via
Zoom.”
— Kenyon Erickson, Blueberry Hill Cohousing, Virginia, USA

New members recruitment and membership onboarding processes have also had to go
virtual in light of the pandemic.

“We’ve held Virtual Open Houses via zoom. We have one available unit for sale and given the
need for physical separation and the need to limit visitors to our lodge we are communicating with
potential buyers by telephone and videoconferencing. If a potential buyer has reviewed the
available information and indicates an eagerness to proceed with the transaction we will work to
set up a safe on-site visit. Most importantly, we are supporting each other as best as we can.
Shopping for a neighbor is a great example. We are all looking forward to enjoying common meals
again!”
— Jacque Bromm, Wolf Creek Lodge, Grass Valley, California, USA