To Our Readers: In Challenging Times, the East End Comes Together
Walking into a local supermarket this past weekend, the weather having shaken off the last vestiges of winter chill and the crowds flowing in from points west, conjured thoughts of summertime Fridays. Although the energy in the air was more subdued than what we’ve come to expect from the influx that makes the Hamptons and the North Fork such a beehive of activity in the summer months, there was a tangible electricity nonetheless.
It came as no surprise that on this particular visit there were no paper towels or toilet paper on the shelves, but these products—along with cleansers and wipes and pasta and meat and so on—would appear at various locations over the next few days, typically appearing overnight like the cobbler’s shoes in that old folktale. This was something relatively new for here. We are used to a bounty of, well, pretty much everything in our little corner of paradise. And now, suddenly, the situation had changed. Items and products and resources that have been part of everyday life were in much scarcer supply, or they were not there at all.
What seems to never find itself in anything but abundance here on the East End, however, remained.
A sense of community.
Yes, there was uncertainty and anxiety and brows furrowed in concern, shopping lists unfulfilled and ongoing lists of things still unknown about COVID-19 and the impact it will have locally, nationally and globally. Yet there was also a civility, a desire to help, which shines even in dark hours. A couple with a cart filled to the brim asking a mother with a small child if she wanted to go ahead of them, so they could leave the crowd behind more quickly. A man who had to be about six feet tall helping a tiny elderly woman get a box of oatmeal off a high shelf, not because she asked—she didn’t, as she just kept stretching and reaching as if that effort would afford her, even for a moment, an extra few inches of reach—but because he saw she needed assistance.
We are all going to find ourselves in some state of need or another as we make our way through these uncertain times, and we here at Dan’s Hamptons Media understand the importance of the role we play. We love a good laugh, as you know, but we take very seriously our responsibility to you.
The health and safety of our employees and their families, our advertisers and partners, our readers and the community at large are our primary focus, and we continue each day to enact measures to ensure everyone’s well-being while continuing to do business. While our staff is working from home, we remain accessible to you via phone, email and social media. We are dedicated to providing updates and information about life on the East End, as well as connections between local businesses and their customers.
In this quickly changing landscape, we will continue to supply multiple daily updates on DansPapers.com and all our social media platforms, as well as the weekly publication of everyone’s favorite East End publication, Dan’s Papers—which is also always available in our digital edition at DansPapers.com.
More than ever, this is a time to communicate, to share thoughts and ideas and information, to support local businesses and to help one another. We look forward to informing and entertaining you, to keeping you aware of what is happening in our local communities and to giving you stories that offer a few moments of escape, and to celebrating the Hamptons and the North Fork and to working through challenging times together.
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