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Mom of U-M student starts group to help students who are sick or isolated due to COVID-19

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One mom of a student at the University of Michigan is doing something incredible; she's helping students who are feeling under the weather — or isolating themselves due to COVID-19.

What started off as an idea has turned into a mission!

"When we jumped in, we didn’t know how huge the need was going to be...,” said Sherry Levine, creator of theaMAIZEing Blue Crew.

Sherry created the aMAIZEing Blue Crew, which is a group of parents of students at U-M that help in ways that only parents could.

When the school year started amid the pandemic — many students were staying in quarantine housing. Sherry’s son Justin was lucky not to have gotten sick or forced to isolate himself. But Sherry felt bad for the students who did.

After learning about dorms missing microwaves and sheets — she contacted the school to push for those items.

But there is only so much this mom in New York could do alone. So, she reached out to local parents in hopes of creating a team that could help students who needed some support.

“Running out and getting them every little thing they need from a pharmacy, hot soups, meals,” said Sherry.

Sherry’s group has more than 550 members.

Some of these parents will make food runs for any student who is sick or isolated — any time of day and for free.

Parents of students would donate to a fund to cover these costs.They haven’t denied a student’s request and they won’t take money from the student even if they offered.

The crew started off taking care of pharmacy and food needs for students affected by the pandemic and have now grown to offer services to any student who isn’t feeling well.

Sherry says this is a way to make sure students get the care they need even if mom and dad are miles away.

“I wish I had done it sooner, certainly my son is a junior now, there were times when he was sick and I was so close to getting on a plane," she said. "Just knowing that there’s moms around to do this for me and for everybody else is so helpful.”