Dear Friends and Neighbors, 

        As many of you know, for several months we have been in the process of collecting your Kew Gardens stories for an upcoming community book, KEW GARDENS: Then & Now. The book project is made possible by a grant from the Citizens Committee for NYC awarded to the Kew Gardens Improvement Association, Inc. 

 

   Many of you have already submitted touching, funny, historical, stories about the people, places and things that make our urban village a unique community. We appreciate receiving those stories and have added a new chapter to the book! 

 

   In the last couple of weeks our lives in Kew Gardens have changed drastically because of COVID-19. The whole world has changed! We and the people we love are at risk. Our stores, restaurants, banks, schools, churches and synagogues are closed. The places we routinely frequent and depend on are shuttered with metal gates. The employees and business owners who are our friends are in serious jeopardy. Our precious routines are in disarray.  We are closed off and isolated from our social connections.

 

        Still, many of our neighbors in Kew Gardens have discovered creative ways to cope and care for each other. This is the reason, we are continuing to go forward with this book. After discussion with representatives from the Citizens Committee for NYC, they have suggested that we extend the deadline to finish the book till the end of the summer. We have decided to also focus on adding your stories about how you and your friends and families in Kew Gardens have been coping and adjusting to this frightening, stressful experience of living in Kew Gardens during a pandemic. The Citizens Committee for NYC is interested in reading your stories about Coping In Kew Gardens and we have promised to forward some of them. 

 

   Please Share Your "Coping in Kew Gardens" Story! Writing your story down may be another strategy to release stress and cope with this enormous event. Kew Gardens has been, and continues to be a close, resilient, caring community. Perhaps by sharing and coming together through a collective writing experience, we can give hope and help to each other during this extraordinary time. We welcome hearing from you. Thank you.