Leelanau Essentials—the workers who keep us safe during the pandemic. Meet Kelly Kieft and Scott Mills
From staff reports
Maple City lacks a grocery store, so Kelly Kieft and Scott Mills stepped forward to organize a pop-up food bank in front of Pegtown Station during the coronavirus pandemic. They encourage the public to drop off donations of ready-made food items, like soup, in a large bin near the wood shed located at the end of the driveway at the couple’s house at 8510 S. Maple St., in Maple City. They set up a tent in front of Pegtown to distribute the food. For questions about the food bank, contact Mills at 231-342-3228.
What does this work mean to you?
“This work should be important to everyone!” says Kelly Kieft. “In our society, we’ve forgotten that we are all interconnected. The well-being of my neighbor is my well-being.”
What does the work mean to the community?
“We can collectively learn to care for one another as equals, and these strange times are a crash course in just that. It’s important work because we’re doing it together.”
How has your life changed during the pandemic?
“In a way, my daily life has been turned upside-down by the pandemic,” says Kieft. “All of the ways that I earn an income are on pause for the time being, which is scary. But I’m lucky to have a strong support network, and my partner is still able to work. Not everyone has that.
“I’ve also seen this time dissolve boundaries between people, which has been a hopeful thing to see. I get phone calls daily from people I’ve never met who want to help out. It feels really connecting, which is like a balm for this moment.”
About our Leelanau Essentials series
They are doctors, nurses and healthcare workers. They stock the shelves, slice the deli meat, and run the registers at grocery stores, they deliver your meals curbside, delicately pinching the paper bag between gloved fingers. They are the EMS first responders, the firemen and the cops. They are the distilleries that turn spirit byproduct into hand sanitizer. They drive semi trucks and delivery trucks and bring packages and food. They are postal workers. They run the food banks and the church pantries. They keep the school cafeterias open to make sure the needy families get breakfasts and lunch. They pick up our recycling and our garbage. They watch our children, and they care for our elderly. They are the farmworkers—both with and without documents—who harvest our crops.
Even as our community and our society shut down and we stay home to socially distance ourselves, these essential workers of Leelanau County show up every day and walk to the front lines to fight for us in this world war against a murderous pandemic. Let us honor our Leelanau Essentials.
Dear readers—who would you like to nominate for our Leelanau Essentials profile series? Do they have a compelling story they’re willing to share? Have they proven themselves essential to the community in recent weeks? Can they send us a photo of themselves and answer the following questions: What does my job mean to me? What does it mean to the community? How has my life changed during the coronavirus? Send submissions to editorial@GlenArborSun.com.
