Lifelong friends schedule hundreds of COVID-19 vaccine appointments
Two Massachusetts moms who have been friends for more than 40 years scheduled hundreds of COVID-19 vaccine appointments.
Two Massachusetts moms who have been friends for more than 40 years scheduled hundreds of COVID-19 vaccine appointments.
Two Massachusetts moms who have been friends for more than 40 years scheduled hundreds of COVID-19 vaccine appointments.
A pair of lifelong friends came together to schedule hundreds of vaccine appointments for people in need.
And, in the process, their friendship has grown stronger than ever.
Megan Marshall and Kristen Nelson of Sterling, Massachusetts, have known one another for more than 40 years.
When they saw their parents struggling to schedule vaccine appointments, they stepped in to help.
Suspecting that other older Americans were likely having the same issues, they decided they had to help.
“I started scrolling through my phone and thinking of everyone in that age group, parents of my friends from my childhood,” Megan explained.
In the first 10 days alone, the women helped more than 125 people sign up for the vaccine.
Nelson and Marshall both have full-time jobs and families, so they found time to help whenever they could: early mornings, late at night and on weekends.
They said it wouldn’t have been possible without the support and understanding of their husbands and children.
“Our children actually are the ones who reached out to the news to say, ‘Our moms are doing this and we want somebody to give them a high-five because they're literally spending all day doing this,’” Nelson said.
The duo also noted that while they’ve known each other for decades, before the pandemic, they might only see each other twice a year.
“What this has done is we speak multiple times a day, and it's just brought us so much closer,” Marshall said. “It sort of reminds you the value of those solid childhood friendships that are few and far between.”
As of early April, they had booked roughly 450 booked appointments.
WCVB anchor Katie Thompson explained, “Knowing that they contributed to that person having a glimpse into freedom, going back to some sense of normalcy, that was so special to these women.”
We are living in unprecedented times with COVID-19 spreading across the nation and world, and the stories about how people are coping, battling, and persevering through the pandemic have become more important than ever.
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