Forward Janesville - TheReport - Second Quarter 2020

SECOND QUARTER 2020 • 7 has it!” We were watching the crisis unfold in real time at the center of the political universe. The hits just kept on coming the following day, the day we were to return to Wisconsin. I had to tear myself away from CNN because I simply couldn’t believe the news coming across the screen. A few of us tried to make the most of the day and hopped on board one of the double-decker tour buses that shuttles tourists to famous sights around the city. A few hearty tourists joined us, but we mostly had the bus to ourselves—a highly unusual experience for springtime in Washington. I have never seen the city so empty, which gave me a sense of creeping dread. As we boarded the plane for Milwaukee, it felt like we had just snuck under the wire. I was seriously worried that we might not make it home. I have never been happier to touch down. I felt like kissing the ground as we passed by Milwaukee’s famous “Recombobulation Area” just outside the TSA checkpoint. Fast forward to today. I’m writing this tale three weeks from the day the trip ended. It feels like it was three years ago. This story will take a few weeks to reach your mailbox, and I am hopeful that the crisis will have lessened by the time you are reading this. The COVID-19 pandemic is a life-altering public health crisis with the great depression strapped to its back. It is going to take years to recover, but we will recover. In the weeks since we left Washington, I have seen the best that government has to offer—rapid, meaningful assistance nearly devoid of politics. While some of the items in the federal stimulus packages may create a burden for small businesses (paid sick and family leave, for instance), remember that the government will pay for these benefits if you can just hang on for a few months. In the meantime, Forward Janesville is here to help with expert advice, resources, and programming. If you are struggling, let us be the bridge that gets you to the other side of this crisis. I pray that the brave and dramatic steps we have taken will save lives and our society. Until the day the world reopens, please do whatever you can to take care of yourself, your family, your friends, and our community. I look forward to seeing each of you in person. I will never again take that for granted. Watching the global pandemic unfold in real time in the epicenter of the political universe was an amazing and surreal experience