Door-to-Door Kindness

Going door-to-door these days, in light of COVID-19, might not seem fashionable or even smart, but for Joanne Dossick of Manhattan Beach, doing so serves a purpose.

While the rest of the world has been attending virtual concerts, meetings and even family reunions during the quarantine era, Dossick has reached out to her community and in so doing, wound up donning a mask daily to go see her neighbors.

While she herself calls it "kind of selfish," that's probably the last way anyone would look at what she's doing.

Fed up by a lack of transparency with donations to organizations like Feeding America and Fuel Our Heroes, she decided to take matters into her own hands once the pandemic hit. She believed that many local residents would be facing financial hardship, so she reached out.

Without telling her family, she drafted an open letter, offering to help pay for groceries, rent, and anything else someone might need, posting it on NextDoor.com.

Her plan was to drop off all that was asked for and pretend like nothing ever happened, keeping those she helped anonymous.

“It was the neighborly thing to do,” Dossick said plainly.

Much to the surprise of Dossick, her letter was met with large community support from her "no questions asked" venture, receiving donations which ranged from various fruits to gift cards up to $200.

From there, she would secretly hand-deliver the sought after items, helping a total of seven different households.

One of the people helped by the initiative, who chose to remain anonymous, touted the work of Dossick and everyone who donated, praising their altruism and willingness to support those in need.

“[They] gave me hope not to give up,” they said.

But for Dossick, she finds these ‘good deeds done in secret’ are nothing to boast about, rather just another way that she can give back. If anything, she feels that it’s a greater reflection of humanity.

“There really are so many good people out there,” she said with a smile, “[and] little acts can make a huge change if we let them.”