Hey all.
These are dark times. Some of the darkest I’ve ever seen. Heck, my grandmothers are in their nineties, and while they’ve certainly seen dark days before (WWII, anyone?), they’ve never seen anything quite like this.
I, personally, am doing okay. Frankly, I consider myself to be literally one of the luckiest people on the planet. My family and friends are almost all healthy (well, at least in terms of Coronavirus). The few people I know personally who have contracted COVID-19 were young (well, early middle-aged like myself) and healthy and as such have recovered. Both my wife and I have jobs that are in no immediate danger of being shut down by the pandemic, and both of us are able to work safely from home.
All of which means it’s my responsibility to help out in any way I can. If you would also like to help out, I have a few suggestions for you:
First, if things are tight financially, you can go to The Hunger Site’s “Click To Give” charity site. There are 10 ways to give, and each is absolutely free. Just a click of your mouse. Usually it’s one click per charity per day, but some of them have been modified so you can click every six hours during the crisis.
If you do have a bit of money on hand, the first priority is of course helping with people’s immediate survival. The CDC Foundation is helping with the medical aspects, and Food Bank For New York City (or your local food charity) can help those who were dependent on school lunches for the kids or those who sometimes had to choose between meals and rent even before their jobs closed down.
If you have a bit more money available, you can give a thought to other non-profits and institutions that you want to survive the quarantine. Two that are particularly close to my heart, and which I would appreciate if you could contribute to, are Coney Island USA and The Coney Island History Project. Coney Island is a remnant of what it once was as it is. If that remnant is lost, it would be an irrecoverable loss for American culture.
And of course, don’t forget to support local businesses. Order in or carry out from restaurants if they’re open for that. Buy gift cards and use them after. I was going to suggest a few, but those would have been my local businesses, not yours. Instead, I’m going to offer something that doesn’t require you to be quite so altruistic.
Alamo Drafthouse is my favorite arthouse/grindhouse movie theatre, though I don’t know if I can properly call it “Indie” since it’s a small chain. Their physical locations are of course closed for the duration. Instead, they now offer “Alamo At Home“. Support independent film and small cinema and get brand new independent film for your quarantine entertainment. Sounds like a good deal to me. Terror Tuesday here I come…