ALL PHOTOS BY KEIKO HIROMI

As we navigate through harsh new realities challenged by fear, anxiety, and an uncertain future, essential workers bravely carry on so we can have necessities in our lives.

From business owners in Lynn, to college campuses in Cambridge, to grassroots community organizations, they’re finding ways to contribute in the fight against the pandemic—from the field, and in many cases from their homes. 

These photos are of Massachusetts, and specifically some of the many brave people who are working through the crisis. They haven’t asked for attention or applause, but they certainly deserve our recognition and appreciation. (Please note that some of these were taken before the advisory on wearing masks.) –Keiko Hiromi

Health workers at a drive-thru COVID-19 testing site at Somerville Hospital. (March 20, 2020)

Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston hours after Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker issued a stay-at-home advisory. (March 24, 2020)

Harvard Yard in Cambridge one day after Harvard University President Lawrence S. Bacow announced that he and his wife tested positive for coronavirus. (March 25, 2020)

Somerville resident Renee Scott organizes materials for neighbors to create face masks to donate to the Cambridge Health Alliance. (March 31, 2020)

Rebecca Masterson, an aerospace engineer and principal research scientist in the Aeronautics and Astronautics department and director of Space Systems Laboratory at MIT, cuts and threads elastic for face masks at her kitchen table in Somerville. (April 7, 2020)

Michelle Kane (L) and Massimo Ramires of Couture Planet, a boutique recycled art handbag maker, sew face masks at their studio in Lynn. The women-owned Couture Planet had three to four part-time employees before the pandemic, but have furloughed them until they can start making and selling bags again. (April 3, 2020)

Rachel Kline of Women’s Lunch Place prepares takeout breakfast meal boxes in the organization’s kitchen in Boston. Women’s Lunch Place suspended its community setting services and meal programs due to the pandemic, and is serving takeout meals and providing toiletries and personal care items. (March 17, 2020)

Father Brian Mahoney at a drive-up confessional in the parking lot of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Chelmsford. (April 1, 2020)

Bob Haas stands inside the window of his front parlor in Dorchester. Haas has a heart condition that puts him at high risk and has not left his house since March 19. (April 3, 2020)

Rahema Mooltrey in her backyard in Dorchester. Mooltrey teaches online classes twice a week with Google teaching. She has mastered the program, but now has to learn to be more resourceful when teaching her special-needs class. She also heads the nonprofit organization Radical Joy Inc., and is working on grants to help families with rent money. (April 5, 2020)

Visiting nurse Tatiana Keler checks vitals on Bob Haas in his piano room in Dorchester. Keler visits Haas twice a week. (April 6, 2020)

Caviar food delivery carrier waits outside of South End Buttery in Boston three weeks after Governor Charlie Baker ordered Massachusetts restaurants and bars shut down except for takeout and delivery on March 17. (April 7, 2020)

Zakaria Wallen wears his face shield prototype outside his studio in Lynn. Wallen started his business, Cutting Edge Boston, a customized laser-cutting company, with his wife Johanna Jehring in 2018.  They have created a GoFundMe page to produce 3,000 face shields to donate to hospitals. (April 8, 2020)

Henry Baez wears a scarf as a protective mask against COVID-19 in Boston. (April 8, 2020)

Andrew Johnston (L) and Jessie Stettin play music from their second-floor apartment in Boston every night at 7 pm for 30 minutes. (April 8, 2020)

A statue of Red Sox legend Bobby Doerr wears a face mask on Antonio Tobias Mendez’s Teammates statue outside Fenway Park in Boston. (April 10, 2020)

This article is syndicated by the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism’s Pandemic Democracy Project. Contact pdp@binjonline.org for more information.

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