Chris Shamburg

Chris Shamburg

I’ve had many great opportunities to connect at Beacon—I’ve made lifelong friends in a Community Group, and I got to know members and guests during Operation Warm Heart. However, there’s one connection that stands out for me.

Early in the pandemic I started to go grocery shopping for Rosemarye Levine, a Beacon member who lives in a retirement home in my town. When Rev. Emille asked if I could do it, I was glad to. I was doing the shopping for my family so I felt like I was going to the supermarket every other day, and I always wanted to see inside Winchester Gardens--the retirement home where she lived. Covid had hit Winchester Gardens hard—Rosemarye had lost her husband Martin to Covid in April 2020.

Rosemarye’s daughter Wendy would text a list to me, and I would integrate into my own shopping and drop it off. 

I had never met Rosemarye, but you can learn a lot from an itemized shopping list. She is a thoughtful shopper. Her lists gave me an appreciation of Breyers Chocolate Truffle Ice Cream, the importance of the country of origin of frozen Italian food at Trader Joes, and the incredible values on detergent at Dollar General—all things that are now a part of my own shopping. Her tastes were refined and precise. I was always creating and revising a composite of the woman from her shopping lists.

At first, dropping off her groceries at her door was like a Halloween prank. I would ring the bell in her building’s hallway, drop the bags, and run away. 

After a few months, I met her at the door. 

A few weeks after that, I came in.

A few visits later we were chatting in her apartment. It was such a pleasure to get to know her. Everything from her reasons for certain dish detergents, to the time she spent in Iran. We chatted about our families, our religious experiences, our love of Beacon, the subtleties of different ice cream flavors. These weren’t long conversations—we were still 6 feet away in masks.

Music has been described as the silence between the notes. Friendships during Covid can take that on a little. I’m basically an introvert, and my days aren’t filled with heart-to-heart talks, so finding a connection in a shopping list meant a lot to me. Of course, the notes—getting to talk to such a wonderful person—also makes it a special experience.