Taking a break from advertising-related subjects for a minute:
If you’re like me, you’ve been feeling kind of helpless lately as you watch healthcare workers working with minimal, shoddy, inadequate protective equipment, and they’re literally pleading for help in getting the gear that could save there life, and there’s literally nothing you can do. (And then you feel guilty for allowing yourself the luxury of bad feelings when other people are suffering far worse than you are, because you were raised Catholic.)
There are actually things you can do, though. I mean, just to start with, there are national and global organizations that need your financial support and advocacy — WHO’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, the CDC Foundation, and No Kid Hungry are just a few. (And for the love of God, if you’re sitting on a stockpile of PPE, turn that stuff over to a hospital.) But if you’re having panic attacks because of your inability to do anything that has an immediate, visible impact, there are things you can do from the comfort of your appropriately socially distanced home to make a difference, in a real, “putting protective gear on the actual face of an actual nurse” kind of way.
(Many of these suggestions are pretty hyperlocal, because if you want to see the immediate impact of your work, going local is a good way to do that. Google around your community to see if any opportunities like this are available nearby. Or, if you have the resources, consider starting your own.)
Produce honest-to-dog PPE
Groups around the country have been working to produce personal protective equipment for area hospitals and other healthcare workers in need. Makers are using 3D printers, laser cutters, and other less high-tech skills are creating face shields and N95 masks. It is true that different healthcare organizations have different feelings about the safety of homemade PPE, but the groups in this (far from comprehensive) list are known to be working with hospitals to make sure the gear really is to medical spec and can be used.
- Alabama: BHAM Support
- Illinois: 3D Printed Face Shields for Swedish
- Maryland: Open Works
- Massachusetts: Lowell Makes
- New York: Assembyl 3D/Makerspace NYC
- Wisconsin: UW Makerspace
Groups say they’re greatly in need of 3D printers and/or laser cutters (if you’re a local) and cold, hard cash (which I do recognize is in short supply for a lot of people right now). Many also provide other, pandemically responsible volunteer opportunities to support their efforts.
Feed kids who rely on school for healthy food
Fun fact: The U.S. is one of the richest countries in the world, and we still have kids who don’t get to eat lunch if the school isn’t open to provide it for them! That’s fun, right? Income disparity is fun. Who doesn’t love a food desert, amiright?
Personal tirades aside, there are ways to get food into hungry children and families in your area.
Blessings in a Backpack has volunteer groups around the country responding to the specific needs of their communities. That level of street-level management can be important when shelter-in-place and social distancing requirements vary from county to county.
In some areas, YMCAs have expanded their Summer Food Program to cover kids who are out of school during the coronavirus crisis. Call your local Y to see if they’re doing it. And if they aren’t, maybe suggest it. Gently. Politely. Please. We’re all stressed out right now.
A lot of families are relying on food banks to get through these difficult times. Luckily, a lot of those food banks are coming up with procedures that allow people to make donations, and allow volunteers to distribute food, in ways that don’t expose everyone to risk of contagion. Feeding America can connect you with food banks and meal programs in your area. Or just Google local food bank and see what comes up.
Find remote-learning gear for students who don’t have it
Schools transitioning to remote education can be annoying for some kids, but it can be straight-up impossible for kids in low-income and/or rural areas who don’t have broadband connections or a computer to hook them to.
Unfortunately, there’s not a lot you can do about the broadband issue (unless you’re willing to sit in someone’s driveway using your phone as a wireless hotspot, in which case… go you, I guess, but maintain your six feet). But Charter, Comcast, and Altice are offering two months of free service to students and low-income families, so that’s information you could make available.
Comcast, AT&T, and Charter are also opening up their wifi hotspots during the crisis, and a lot of schools, libraries, and local businesses are as well, giving many kids broadband access they wouldn’t otherwise have — as long as they know where the wifi is. Groups like Eye on Ohio and the Vermont Department of Public Service are mapping free hotspot in their area, and there’s probably a similar project in your area as well — and if there’s a better way to be productive while sitting on your butt, I can’t think of one.
Many organizations that refurbish and donate computers to schools are specifically focusing on equipping kids for distance learning. Consider donating money and/or wayward electronics to help a kid learn from home. (Do keep in mind that donating actual electronics could be logistically challenging in lockdown mode, and that forced to choose between dropping off a laptop or sheltering at home, the answer is always B.)
- Connecticut: Partnership for Connecticut
- Florida: Education Foundation of Palm Beach County
- Ohio: Cincinnati Computer Cooperative
- Minnesota: Minnesota Computers for Schools
- Texas: Comp-U-Dopt
Donate blood
You have plenty of blood, right? Giving it away (if you’re able) doesn’t cost you a dime, and you get orange juice and Nutter Butters afterward. And don’t worry — the American Red Cross donor centers were already clean and safe before they instituted their COVID-19 protocols, and now they’re possibly the safest place in the world right now.
Stay your ass at home
Please. Ask any healthcare provider or first responder what you can do to help, and the first thing they’ll tell you is to go home and stay there. Don’t make some excuse to go see people because hey, you’re out to get groceries anyway — get your groceries and go home. Don’t think you’re somehow safe because your bunko group only has eight people — disinfect your cards and go home. Young, healthy, asymptomatic people can pass the virus around like the world’s deadliest hacky sack, and the only way to keep from spreading it is to not have contact with those people or essentially any other people.
In all seriousness, though, top researchers are working hard to develop vaccines and therapeutics for a virus that essentially didn’t exist before and against which humans have no immunity. Healthcare workers are on the front lines, risking their lives to treat sick people because we need them to. There is one, and only one, thing the rest of us can do to contribute, and that’s to do… nothing.
Thanks for caring enough to find things to do in addition to nothing, though. Y’all are the best.
None of this is to be taken as an endorsement of any of the organizations listed here — merely an acknowledgment that they exist. Except for staying your ass at home. I fully endorse that one.