When Sandra Weinstein was battling the coronavirus, her entire family under isolation, she didn’t know how they would get food to eat.
If it wasn’t for friends offering to grocery shop for her, Weinstein — along with her husband and three daughters — would’ve had to survive exclusively on takeout for three meals a day.
So when she finally tested negative, the Manhattan dentist wanted to give back.
“I wasn’t allowed to go out. We are a family of five. I had a good friend ask me if she could pick something up for me. Every time she’d go to the supermarket, she asked. It was a huge help,” said Weinstein, who lives in New Rochelle, told The Post.
“When I tested negative, I wanted to do the same for others.”
After two weeks of quarantine and fighting “low-grade symptoms” Weinstein, 45, was able to return to grocery stores — where she began randomly approaching elderly people and offering to shop for them.
“I hope I don’t insult you, but it’s not safe for you to be out shopping. Call me, I will do your shopping for you,” Weinstein would tell the seniors she encountered.
She then reached out to the heads of local temples and senior organizations and offered to help, telling them she was available for shopping for anyone who needed it.
The requests started pouring in.
“It’s not just the elderly. It’s sick people who are younger, people who can’t go out,” Weinstein said.
Now, the home-bound send their shopping lists through text or email and then Weinstein hits the shops, sometimes with three or four lists at a time.
“You don’t know how many stores I would go to for that one roll of toilet paper,” Weinstein said of her early trips.
“I shop sometimes in multiple stores, the supermarket, a kosher store, CVS. I literally go through the isles so many times looking for items to cross off the lists. I put [the items] in different parts of my wagon, the top or bottom, so I know what’s what.”
These days, she spends time scouring stores for disinfectant, and recently grabbed the last bottle of Clorox at her local Harmon’s grocery store for one of the people she serves.
“I have the time,” Weinstein said, who believes her recovery from COVID-19 offers her some degree of immunity.
“I still disinfect, of course, but I’d like to put this ability to good use. I’m used to working full time, being productive.”
Her daughters, ages 20, 18 and 15, are inspired by her mom and want to join her efforts.
“Mommy, I want to do this all summer with you,” Weinstein’s eldest told her recently.
She’s planning to get her tested and is considering allowing her, and her other kids, to help once she goes back to work.
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