Woman who lost job turns focus to helping others

Like many people, Debra Durgin has been spending a lot more time in her kitchen during shelter-in-place, documenting the fruits of her labor on social media.

But instead of posting pictures of Sourdough bread, Dalgota coffee, cinnamon buns or other quarantine cooking trends, she’s been filling local feeds with images of individually-packaged meals she gives to some of Petaluma’s most vulnerable residents.

Her posts show boxes lining her kitchen counter, brimming with roasted chicken and potatoes, pulled pork and coleslaw. Nearly every weekday afternoon since mid-March, Durgin piles the containers into her car and sets off shortly before 4 p.m. to give anywhere between 15 and 30 meals to people without homes scattered across town.

“Whenever I see someone I roll down my window and ask them if they’re hungry,” Durgin said. “They almost always say yes.”

Ever since the shutdown implemented to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in mid-March, Durgin has been devoting her time to providing food, clothes and other assistance to community members living without shelter or on the precipice of losing their homes. Along with homemade meals, she also keeps a trunk full of items ranging from clothes and shoes to sleeping bags and tents she hands to anyone she comes across.

As the economic crisis continues, needs have skyrocketed among Petaluma’s most vulnerable. In turn, residents like Durgin are members of a collective groundswell of community-driven altruism, which includes people shopping for their elderly neighbors, starting fundraising campaigns, volunteering with local nonprofits and even running food distributions out of their homes.

What began as a few wrapped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches has blossomed into an organized effort, leading Durgin and a small group of helpers to serve well over one thousand meals and raise upwards of $5,000 to help individuals afford car repairs and living expenses.

Paradoxically, Durgin’s philanthropic efforts to help those experiencing homelessness stems from her own individual misfortune. Unable to weather the economic pressures of the coronavirus, Durgin said she was forced to close her insurance business of 20 years in March. Reeling from the “grief” of losing her livelihood, she turned her attention to helping others.

“When I’m sad I go and help other people, so doing this was a direct response to feeling like I was losing everything,” Durgin said.

Within the first week, she began making roughly 10 meals per weekday. That quickly swelled to 15, reaching 30 meals a weekday for the entire month of May before dropping down to 15 over the last three weeks. Going forward, she said she’s looking to scale down the delivery days to two or three times per week after weeks of a daily grind that she says has left her feeling exhausted.

“At first I was paying for all of it, then I started going to the Food Bank and then I started to share pictures of what I was doing,” Durgin said. “People began to gift me food, gift cards to buy groceries, then people started giving items.”

She said she’s been able to raise $2,565 to help a woman living in her RV afford repairs, insurance and registration. She said she also gathered another $2,500 through individual contributions to buy a man a used car.

“If you could see my garage right now, you’d see I have thousands of dollars worth of things that people have brought by, from new tents and sleeping bags to shirts, jackets and shoes,” Durgin said. “If I post a size on NextDoor, it just shows up on my door step.”

It’s been an overwhelming outpouring of support and assistance, as evidenced by the dozens of comments on Durgin’s social media posts pledging dollar amounts, clothes, shoes and various other items.

“I see a need, so I’m doing what I can to fill it,” she said.

(Contact Kathryn Palmer at kathryn.palmer@arguscourier.com, on Twitter @KathrynPlmr)