5 Ways to Help During Coronavirus
During times of crisis we can all feel helpless. With Covid19 that feeling is amplified even more, as sitting on a couch at home getting anxious with the news all day or distracting yourself with netflix is about as far from feeling helpful as it gets. So today we’re going to look at 5 ways you can do your part in this crisis.
Donate Extra Supplies and Money
The medical supply shortage is one of the defining features of this crisis. Unlike my roommate you might not have a bag full of N95 masks lying around to donate (he works in a camera crew and they are a standard piece of safety equipment) but hand sanitizers, disinfectants, gloves, and other similar equipment are vital to the effort, New Yorkers can donate here. Food banks also need your help right now with the amount of unemployed people so make sure to share some of your stock of non-perishables. And with so many people out of work or with paychecks cuts, charities need your help now more than ever.
Donate Blood
It’s easy to forget that during a pandemic hospitals still have plenty of non-pandemic patients to care for. Blood banks across America are seeing a major decline in donations due to people’s fears of going out, but those donations are all still crucial. Know that blood banks are doing everything they can to ensure your safety such as mandatory social distancing and temperature checks on entry. If you are healthy enough to donate blood, especially if you are not living with anyone who has a particular vulnerability to Covid19, it is urgent you give blood.
Volunteer Food Delivery
Food delivery is even more important than ever given the amount of people needing to avoid going out. If you have friends, family or neighbors who can’t shop for themselves, offer to do errands for them. Maintain social distance as much as possible when dropping off the food and only go out in a mask, but saving people a trip can be saving a life. If you can, see if you can donate your time to food delivery services such as Meals on Wheels. Anyone can volunteer, and both food delivery and food preparation are needed, so if you are looking for a way to help this directly helps some of society’s most vulnerable.
Volunteer from Home
If you don’t want to leave the house but still want to help, there are multiple ways of helping from home. Programs like Alone connect isolated seniors to give them the socialization we all need, which is especially important in a time where no one can connect. The UN has a full list of online volunteering opportunities to use writing skills, translation ability, social media skills and more. Also, kill two birds with one stone by tutoring for the students stuck at home.
Stay Home
Finally, we can’t emphasize this hard enough, but even if you are doing nothing but sitting on a couch at home getting anxious with the news all day or distracting yourself with netflix, you are doing your part. Hell, order a pizza for your netflix binge, as ordering delivery helps keep your local restaurants afloat while getting you a relatively safe food option. We all need to do our part to flatten the curve, so if you have the luxury of staying home, you are helping so much more than you think you are. Our hospitals need your support.
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