This virus should only distance us physically from each other, but we are living in an age where we can still do things together as a community

“We live in a relatively new estate in South Dublin with lots of young families. Last week, in response to the cancelled St Patrick’s Day Parade, one of the neighbours shared a post on our neighbourhood’s WhatsApp group about doing a St Patrick’s Day Window Parade and encouraged all the kids to add pictures on their windows. My husband took pictures of all the decorated windows and posted them into the group chat. Then, all the neighbours voted for the top three windows and the 1st prize got cakes baked by our daughter. On Friday, another neighbour posted about lighting a candle by our windows. Lots of neighbours posted pictures of their candles in support for people affected by the Coronavirus. A few days ago, someone suggested a bear hunt for the kids inspired by the popular children’s book: ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’. We put teddy bears in our windows so that young kids with their parents could walk the estate in search of the displays. Social distancing is becoming the new norm, but we are trying as a community to support each other virtually. This virus should only distance us physically from each other, but we are living in an age where we can still do things together as a community. We are trying to make it special for our kids during these uncertain times. I hope this will inspire other communities to run similar initiatives and will make people feel less isolated.