Barb Zingo-Blashill has fully dedicated herself to serving her beloved community during this time of crisis. Working as a Legal Assistant as her day job, Zingo-Blashill recently created the Facebook page “Porter County Neighbors Helping Neighbors,” which is dedicated to serving as a network for residents to help one another during the COVID-19 pandemic. She currently serves as an admin on the page.
Zingo-Blashill explained that Neighbors Helping Neighbors spawned from local high school girls wanting to reach out to the community to help with babysitting during the beginning of the pandemic. When the pandemic began shutting down businesses and schools all over the country, the Facebook page began to hit its stride by connecting people to help with food donations and babysitting. The group has managed to reach out to community organizations and can direct people to where they can get their bills paid, access to food pantries, and help with childcare and rent.
“Serving the community in this way means a lot because you get the chance to aid someone by putting food on their table, make sure someone’s internet bill is paid so their children can use it for eLearning, arranged to have clothing and donations dropped off, and so on,” Zingo-Blashill said. “It’s a very eye-opening but heartwarming experience.”
Zingo-Blashill stated that her mentality stems from a quote by the famous American author and poet Maya Angelou: “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
“Be the change you want to see in the world,” Zingo-Blashill said. “It is priceless to teach others how to serve the community and help others. It is amazing how one person can change somebody’s perspective in life and impact the lives of others.”
Zingo-Blashill stated that her grandfather has always been her greatest influence. He was always a great contributor to the community and loved to volunteer.
“I was always taught to always try to make someone’s day better,” Zingo-Blashill said. “I want to make the world a better place, and I want to instill in people the desire to want to pay it forward.”
“Creating and fostering Neighbors Helping Neighbors has been a humbling experience,” Zingo-Blashill said. “It makes me really happy and proud that I can help these people during this time.”
Porter County Neighbors Helping Neighbors is currently over 6,600 members strong and is still spreading for a good cause to this day. The Facebook page can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/155473192252346/