How An Artist, A Toy Maker, A College Student Use Their Skills To Fight The Pandemic
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Artists Shawana Brooks and her husband Roosevelt Watson III started the 6 Ft. Away Gallery in their yard in Jacksonville, Florida. They created it as a way to showcase Roosevelt’s art at a time when galleries were closed due to the pandemic.
Marc Mangra
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Marc Mangra
Goats and Soda
How 6 Problem-Solvers Tackled Pandemic Challenges In Their Neighborhoods
Here are six profiles of volunteers who are making a difference.
Virtual classes fight free time and boredom
In the weeks after March 25, when India announced a nationwide lockdown to battle the coronavirus pandemic, Perpetual Nazareth, an English teacher at Don Bosco High School in Mumbai, was flooded with calls from teenage students who were bored and listless.
Although the school had pivoted to online classes, «I could tell that it was a tough time for them and for parents too,» she says. When Nazareth wondered how she could help, Joshua Salins, a former student, offered a suggestion: why not teach them new hobbies?
Salins, founder and CEO of The Hobby Tribe, which offers lessons on hobbies ranging from playing the guitar to photography. Since the pandemic, he has made the classes virtual.
Sandhya Salins
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Sandhya Salins
Salins had already established a a small business called The Hobby Tribe in October 2019 to make it cheaper and easier for people to pursue the kinds of activities that he himself enjoys — singing, making art and playing music. «We would rent a place, hire teachers and gather people who wanted to learn something new,» he says. At first, the group offered six courses: dance, guitar, the keyboard, drums, tailoring and drawing Mandala art (an Indian art form that employs circular patterns and shapes) — at budget rates — ranging from a flat fee of $10-20 for eight sessions.
After the lockdown, The Hobby Tribe ground to a halt, says the 21-year-old founder. Students couldn’t attend in-person lessons. So the organization had to reinvent itself. Salins approached his alma mater to see if students would be interested in virtual classes. The response was heartening, says Nazareth, who is not affiliated with the program. Over 100 students signed up in a single day.
After shifting online, The Hobby Tribe hired more teachers and expanded to offer 40 courses, including coding, photography, beauty and makeup tips, cooking and trivia games at an even lower price — $2 for eight sessions.
Cheryl Moniz’s 15-year-old daughter Tamara is taking photography lessons from their home in Mumbai. «Kids need an outlet like this. it gives them a chance to relax, keeps them connected and productive,» she says.
As word spread, it sparked interest from all over the world, says Salins. Five hundred students are now enrolled. Many are Indians based in the U.S., U.K., Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Singapore, Oman and Qatar. People of all ages are welcome to join.
«In these tough times, hobbies do more than build character. It’s an interesting way to interact with like-minded people,» says Nazareth. «They can mold you into the person you want to become.»
Kamala Thiagarajan is a freelance journalist based in Madurai, India, who has written for The International New York Times, BBC Travel and Forbes India. You can follow her @kamal_t.
DIY dispensers provide free face masks to all
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Chom Greacen created the Grab-and-Go Mask dispenser to help encourage her fellow residents on Lopez Island, Wash., to mask up. Volunteers sew the masks inside.
Quaniqua Williams
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Quaniqua Williams
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Greacen holds up one of the mask dispensers that she designed. They are made of recycled campaign signs.
Quaniqua Williams
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Quaniqua Williams
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Artists Shawana Brooks and her husband, Roosevelt Watson III, talk to visitors at the 6 Ft. Away Gallery, an art space they created in their yard.
Marc Mangra
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Marc Mangra
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Artist Marsha Hatcher spray paints an outline for a Black Votes Matter mural, a project supported by Color Jax Blue, in Jacksonville, Fla.
Cheryl McCain
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Cheryl McCain
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The workers who used to sew beekeeping suits for Domingo de la Cruz Toma, a beekeeping specialist for the Guatemalan cooperative Maya Ixil, are now sewing face masks.
Kyle Freund/Food 4 Farmers
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Kyle Freund/Food 4 Farmers
Workers at Maya Ixil have pivoted from sewing beekeeper’s clothing to making face masks in the cooperative’s workshop.
Kyle Freund/Food 4 Farmers
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Kyle Freund/Food 4 Farmers
Although lockdown restrictions are now easing, farmers have only been able to work half days since the national quarantine was imposed on March 17, due to a 4 p.m. curfew that was lifted at the end of July. And while their wages have halved, the price of basic food basket items like eggs has risen by up to 50%, says co-op manager Miguel Ostuma.
The donated masks have been a huge help, says Domingo de la Cruz Toma, a 52-year-old beekeeper with the co-op. «It’s been really beneficial.»
Domingo Enoc Toma López and a neighbor check on a hive in his coffee parcel.
Kyle Freund/Food 4 Farmers
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Kyle Freund/Food 4 Farmers
Marcela Pino, co-director of the U.S. nonprofit Food 4 Farmers — which works with coffee farming communities like the Maya Ixil — says this resourcefulness is characteristic of the vibrant co-op. «They work so hard … and they never lose spirit,» says Pino.
Sophie Foggin is a journalist based in Medellin, Colombia, covering politics, human rights, history and justice in Latin America.
Locally run restaurants offer cheap comfort food to families in need
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Volunteers Juan Ramirez and Neris Papoter get ready to serve meals to families for Our Community Dinner Table. Ramirez and Papoter, who are married, have donated over 15,000 water bottles and have volunteered with the group almost every single day since it began operating.
Hanna Kim
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Hanna Kim
Siblings Sam and Esther Chong, founders of Our Community Dinner Table in Palisades Park, N.J.
Esther Chong
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Esther Chong
Recipients queue on spray-painted lines, 6 ft. apart for social distancing, to choose their meal for the day: usually Italian, Korean or Latin American.
«Every ethnicity’s idea of comfort food is different,» says Esther. «In America, a lot of people think of chicken noodle soup. For Asian communities, maybe it’s more like rice porridge. We wanted this to be a source of comfort as well.»
So far, CDTable has served nearly 16,000 meals – 300 a day at its peak in June – and raised more than $90,000 through grants and fundraising. Most of the funds go toward buying more meals as well as supplies like bags for the meal and personal protective equipment for volunteers. CDTable now partners with about 10 restaurants and has 10 to 15 volunteers who show up on a regular basis, including Mayor Chris Chung, who has helped distribute meals almost every day.
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Volunteers Soojung Kwak and Pastor Bob Koo prepare to distribute meals for Our Community Dinner Table.
Hanna Kim
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Hanna Kim
Matthew Owens, founder of the Lockdown Puppet Theater, with his puppets.
Matthew Owens
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Matthew Owens
After being laid off from his job making toys for animals at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago in early April, Matthew Owens was looking for a way to pass the time at home in the pandemic. So he decided to revive his longtime love of puppet-making. A few weeks later, he started a project called the Lockdown Puppet Theater. Every Saturday afternoon since then, he has put on free 30-minute puppet shows for passersby from his second story living room window.
The circus-themed show features characters such as the Tattooed Man, clowns and a high diver whom Owens drops from his window into a glass of water that his wife places on the sidewalk before the show.
The audience favorite is a toad puppet named Yoshi who lip syncs to a 1950s Japanese yodeler.
Owens now has over 50 different puppets, each of which he makes by hand. Owens does not take donations and pays for the materials with his own funds.
«I just want people to be happy and to have something to smile about,» says Owens.
The show has become a local hit. Today, anywhere from 20 to 50 people, adults and children alike, line up to watch the shows. Since July, the state of Illinois has allowed public gatherings of 50 or fewer people; previously this was restricted to 10 or less.
For his part, Owens does remind the audience to maintain social distancing and wear masks throughout the show — and, for the most part, he says, people abide.
Emily Landon, an infectious disease specialist at the University of Chicago, says audience members need to be responsible and take precautions for their safety. They should disperse, for example, if the crowd becomes too large.
Landon adds that Owens could end or pause the show if the audience is not taking those safety precautions. «In my mind, the sort of ethical responsibility would be to post a sign saying, ‘Please stay six feet apart, please wear face coverings,’ and if more than 50 people gather, then I have to stop,» she says.
Hannah Long, a local Chicago resident who has seen the show twice with her two young kids says the show was a reminder to her family that there are still «good and lighthearted things in the world» — and also restored a sense of community missing since the pandemic began, she adds.
«Some people say the show is the highlight of their week,» Owens says. «Despite the fact that they are wearing masks, I am pretty confident the audience is smiling underneath.»
Jessica Craig is an intern on NPR’s science desk.
Thank you to everyone who nominated a problem-solver in your community. We enjoyed reading through them!
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