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So it very quickly became clear that this was going to have to operate on a level that was way past what we had expected, but it was so exciting. Like we had sort of been found as can happen with the internet.Īnd the thing with the internet is once you've been found, you can't be unfound. And then I think it was like a Sunday night or something, went to bed and were going to regroup in the morning, and we woke up to missed calls from Good Morning America, CNN, and PR. org because it's been a crazy ride, but we put up a website and like two days later we got our first delivery request and then pretty quickly after the site was launched, we started getting some online traction, and we were contacted by a girl named Kelly, who joined us as a third co-founder sort of right at the gate and helped us expand it.Īnd we started getting delivery requests from around the city and we were excited that we were going to build this kind of small community effort.

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What are you thinking?' And we just put our heads together and we said, what if we made something? What if we figured out how to be this vehicle for folks? He called me and he had seen my Facebook status and he said, 'I love this idea. Liam Elkind, who went on to be one of my my co-founders with me. And I didn't really see anything like this.Īnd a friend of mine, Liam, he's one of my good friends, younger brothers. So I just started collecting names of people who might be interested and started Googling. I got a bunch of responses from my friends and my colleagues are saying, I don't know of something like this, I don't know of an organization like this, but I would love to help if you find something. And I can describe it for them so they can stay outside or even better yet stay home.'Īnd I had this thought and then I got home and I posted on Facebook and I just asked my friends, does anybody know of a way that a young, healthy able-bodied person could volunteer to deliver groceries to people who are more at risk to COVID? And I was thinking specifically the elderly and the immunocompromised. I remember thinking, 'God, I wish I could just offer to go in for them and have them tell me what they want. And I just viscerally, like that felt wrong. And I was walking home from the subway and I passed my local supermarket, and I remember seeing a lot of elderly folks going in and out.

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New York was starting to feel a little scary, we weren't in like full lockdown mode yet. I think unlike most non-profit organizations, Invisible Hands started entirely by accident, which is, I think not how it normally goes, but the way it all started was I'm a native New Yorker, born and raised, been here for 26 years and I was walking home, this was March, God, I want to say 12 or something. Well, first of all, I'm very flattered to hear you call it an enterprise. I'm really excited to talk to you guys.īrian Anderson: Why don't you, for starters, tell us how you got involved with this enterprise? And you've got two co-founders, is that it? Simone Policano: Thank you so much for having me.

They've been profiled in a number of local and national news outlets, and they were recently selected for one of the Manhattan Institute's annual Civil Society Awards, a $25,000 prize given to them and four other organizations, which you've heard us talk about on this show before.Īs America is enduring a second wave of the virus, we thought that this would be a good time to get the perspective of someone who's been helping organize relief efforts in our area, the type we've been seeing taking place across the country.

They're a nonprofit volunteer group that's been delivering groceries and other essential items to the elderly, the disabled and vulnerable population since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic this spring.

Simone is one of the co-founders of an organization called Invisible Hands. Joining me on the show today is a special guest, Simone Policano. This is Brian Anderson, the editor of City Journal. Brian Anderson: Welcome back to the 10 Blocks Podcast.

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