Coronavirus: Ways to Help

Blog Posts
Written By Cameron Rogers

As I've discussed on my IG stories and recent posts, I've been on quite the emotional rollercoaster. After lots of reflection, I realized that the emotion I've been feeling the most is guilt. As someone who wants to help as many people as possible, I feel somewhat paralyzed and overwhelmed by what actions I am capable of doing in order to assist. After discussing this with many of you over DM, I figured the most impactful and helpful thing I could do right now is to use my platform and reach to collect, organize, and distribute a list of actions we are able to take. I realize this is an incredibly lengthy email, but given that all of this information is important, I found it necessary. I have also tried to organize it as best as possible for you all. I hope you find this helpful and that it sparks at least one small act of kindness. 

FINANCIAL DONATIONS

A helpful tool to navigate the many different charities in need right now is Charity Navigator. However, I have broken down some of the ones I found by area of focus…

  • Medical supplies:

    • Relief International: so far has provided more than 50,000 pieces of medical protective gear

    • Heart to Heart International: distributing urgently needed equipment and medication to its partners around the world

    • This GoFundMe for protective gear for NYC healthcare workers

  • Food:

    • World Central Kitchen: distributing meals to children and others after many schools were closed

    • Feeding America: the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization and will help food banks across the country

    • City Harvest: focused on feeding the hungry in New York

    • God's Love We Deliver: cooks and home-delivers nutritious, medically tailored meals to people who, because of their illness, are unable to provide or prepare meals for themselves

    • Food Rescue: working together to rescue would-be wasted food and delivering it to our food insecure neighbors

    • Rethink Food: works to recover nutritious excess food to provide low or no-cost meals to NYC families in need

    • River Fund: a poverty amelioration organization with the mission to feed and empower those we serve to move beyond the lines of poverty

    • Rescuing Leftover Cuisine: provides solutions to prevent excess wholesome cuisine from being wasted

    • Food Bank NYC: focused on ending hunger by organizing food, information and support for community survival, empowerment, and dignity

    • The LEE Initiative: turning restaurants across the country into relief centers and offering meals and essential items to restaurant workers who have been laid of or have had a significant reduction in hours and/or pay.

  • Children:

    • UNICEF: providing hygiene and medical kits to schools and health clinics

    • Save the Children: partnering with No Kid Hungry to provide support for the schools and community programs to make sure the children are still fed

    • First Book: delivering books to children in the US who do not have access to the internet so that they can continue learning while their schools are closed

    • For public school children, here is a map of places you can pick up free food from (closing restaurants), what they are giving away, and the times

  • Other:

    • Women’s Prison Association

    • Getting Out Staying Out

    • Domestic violence agencies. One that was mentioned in the FF community was the Safe Center Long Island

    • The Trever Project: providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQ young people under 25

    • Someone in the FF community, Gaby, is trying to raise awareness for her home country (Ecuador) and how unprepared they are for the virus. She is seeking assistance in supplying medical supplies and asks that you email her at healthiswealth.contact@gmail.com

    • Sign this petition to safeguard the right of all laboring people to have support during the COVID-19 crisis

    • COVID-19 relief in Ecuador: a member of the FF community started a GoFundMe to support PPE for Ecuador Hospitals

VOLUNTEERING

  • For those who are healthy, willing, and able to assist, most organizations that are delivering food are looking for volunteers. Either reach out to the organizations directly or fill out this form for updates on who needs volunteers and when

  • Offer to purchase groceries for the elderly in your area

  • Fill out this form for information on remote volunteering to assist with the creation of public information websites for COVID-19

PHYSICAL ACTS

  • Donate blood: there is a severe blood shortage because of a high number of blood drive cancellations during the outbreak

  • Donate any leftover Clorox wipes, toilet papers, etc to senior living communities

  • If you have extra masks or sanitizers, please donate them to hospitals! Call your local hospital for drop-off information. Our front line is in desperate need of these protective measures

  • Send cards to residents in nursing homes as most are on lockdown

  • Stay at home and practice social distancing so we can flatten the curve and assist the healthcare workers to focus on helping those who are sick!

  • Donate your metrocard to someone who is frontline working

  • If you are able to, pay anyone you use for services (hairstylist, housekeeper, trainer, etc) in advance 

  • If you are able to offer a service, do so for a cut, or no, cost. Example, Niki Freidlin is offering free curated resources to families with kids based on their age

SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESSES

Physical acts:

  • Ordering takeout / curbside pickup from your favorite local restaurants that are currently open and offering that and leaving large tips with the orders (a lot of my favorites are listed below!)

  • Ordering online from small businesses that have an online shopping presence

  • Purchase a dining bond, which is essentially a gift certificate that is sold at a price lower than face value and redeemable at face value when dining at the restaurant. Not all restaurants are offering these, but here is the map of which ones are

  • Purchase a gift card at your favorite restaurant to help support them right now

  • If you are a small business, here is where to apply for a loan to mitigate losses in profit during this time

  • Square launched a program where you can enter your address and find local businesses to support through delivery or gift cards. Check it out here

Donations:

  • DIEMLIFE: a quest to rally financial support for the small business owners, family operators, freelancers, and independent contractors whose businesses and livelihoods are affected by COVID-19

  • Venmo donations to instructors who are providing free workouts on Instagram

  • Save Restaurants: help restaurants get immediate COVID-19 relief now

  • James Beard Foundation Relief Fund: gathering support from corporate, individual, and foundation donors to provide micro-grants to independent food and beverage businesses in need 

Small businesses & restaurants that I love:

  • Bent Spoon (Princeton, NJ): the best ice cream and gelato in my hometown. Currently they are closed for walk-in regular shopping, but they are offering “curbside-backdoor pickup”. More info on their website or Instagram

  • Mimi Chengs (NYC): delicious dumpling spot founded by a friend of mine that is offering delivery

  • Barbuto (NYC): currently offering pickup from their new location

  • Union Square Hospitality Group (NYC): group that owns two of my favorite restaurants (Union Square Café and Gramercy Tavern) closed all of its restaurants, but you are able to purchase a gift card

  • Bar Sardine (NYC) or all restaurants in Happy Cooking Group: my go-to favorite local spot is currently closed, but you can purchase a gift card online

  • Grounded Coffee (NYC): my favorite local coffee shop in the West Village has a gofundme for their staff

  • L’artusi (NYC): currently offering takeout and has a gofundme for their employees

  • 12 Charis Café (NYC): currently offering delivery

  • Springbone (NYC): currently offering delivery and has a gofundme for their team

  • Hu Kitchen (NYC): the storefront is temporarily closed, as well as their website due to warehouse closures, but some products are available to order through Amazon

  • Van Leeuwen Ice Cream (all over): currently closed their stores, but available to purchase online and all gift cards purchased online will receive a 20% bonus

  • Junk Free Beauty in Brooklyn is a small business focused on Non-toxic Beauty and household products. Their website will be continuing to function and orders can be made through their DMs as well @junkfreebeauty on Instagram

  • Emmy’s Organics are gluten free coconut based cookies created by my friend Samantha Abrams and are absolutely delicious

  • Follain is my go-to non-toxic skincare store that sells handpick and selected items from many different lines in the clean beauty world. They have a very serious 5-step process to determine what is worth selling on their shelves. Use code freckledfoodie for 10% off 

  • Ground Up PDX is a Portland based nut butter company making the most flavorful and unique combinations ever. Use code freckledfoodie for 15% off their website

  • Addison Bay: my favorite Philly-based online boutique of every athleisure piece I could ever imagine wanting

Small business restaurants that were sent in by the FF community
Currently offering delivery / takeout options:

Accepting donations online:


Other (non-restaurant) small business that were sent in by the FF community:

  • Good Company Consulting

  • Niu Body

  • Nikki (a DC bartender) is using her facebook to teach us all how to make cocktails while her restaurant is temporarily closed

  • Maddy is a clinical psychologist specializing in DBT and CBT and is offering online mindfulness workshops. She also is offering free consultation and telemedicine to doctors and nurses in hospitals right now!

  • Petwell Supply in Somerville MA (just north of Boston). The company provides and educates on natural and holistic remedies for dogs and cats. They have online ordering, so maybe take a few weeks break from Chewy and Amazon to order from them! They carry awesome brands and can get many others from our distributors. 

  • Politics & Prose or Kramerbooks (both in DC) are fantastic small businesses/independent local bookstores and they’re delivering when you call and place an order

  • Blender Bombs sells organic nut and seed “bombs” to put in smoothies as a replacement for protein powder or to eat alone as a fiber filled snack!

Cameron Rogers
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