Tariq and his wife moved to Ithaca from Pakistan with their three kids so Tariq could work and pursue his education. But when COVID-19 closed Cornell’s Ithaca campus, Tariq’s family lost their primary source of income and financial stress quickly set in. “Because the campus was closed and I was not working anymore, it really impacted me; it impacted my mental health, and I was having difficulty getting groceries. I really needed help,” he said.

 At first, Tariq received loans from family and friends to help pay rent and buy groceries to feed his family, but he knew he couldn’t rely on his personal network forever and felt he was running out of options. Fortunately, a colleague let Tariq know about INHS’s COVID-19 Rental Assistance Program and encouraged him to reach out for support.

INHS guided Tariq through the application process and was able to provide him with three months of assistance with his rent payments, allowing him to prioritize feeding his family.

“After I got approval for the rental assistance, I started thinking about other stuff—about my groceries, about my studies, and all that. It was definitely a great relief. In the midst of this pandemic, this help really meant a lot to me. When I received the email regarding the [rental assistance] approval, it was like out of this world. I showed that email to my wife and our kids and I told them, ‘There are good people in this world.’”