A couple of weeks before the Bay Area started sheltering-in-place, Los Altos High School students Kayleen Gowers and Greg Corn started buying groceries for their older neighbors to keep them safe at home. They posted about their plans on NextDoor and set up a Google Form that neighbors could fill out with their grocery orders.
Word spread around and the pair started making about four or five deliveries a day. “We were empathizing with those who can’t leave their homes and are really affected during this time,” said Gowers, a Princeton-bound senior who is also on the San Jose Earthquakes U-19 Girls Academy team. “I guess I was kind of putting myself in their shoes and understanding where they’re coming from. A lot of them are probably scared and feeling alone.”
They’re also saving their neighbors money since they don’t charge for the service. They have received some tips, though, but have donated those to One Fair Wage emergency fund, an initiative to help tipped and service workers struggling to make it during the pandemic.
Gowers and Corn are just one example of how the Bay Area’s younger generation is putting their own resourcefulness to work during the coronavirus crisis.
Yash Narayan, a 10th-grader at Nueva School in San Mateo, is focusing NuevaHacks — a remote, global hackathon — around having students work on world problems created by COVID-19. Hundreds of students from Poland, Jordan, Saudia Arabia, Singapore, India, Togo, Bangladesh, China, and the United States have signed up to participate in the weeklong event, which starts April 10.
“There is a sense that we students feel something needs to be done about this crisis, as all over the world we are facing similar challenges from online education to having playdates to creating meaningful interactions with one other while stuck at home,” said Narayan, 15, who lives in San Carlos and created an anti-bullying app after attending his first hackathon at age 10.
Closer to home, Avni Agarwal, a 13-year-old Girl Scout in San Jose has started a campaign to get other scouts to start making masks, which health officials are now recommending as protection for anyone going out for essential activities. She’s already made 80 masks herself and is working on a batch right now for Kaiser Santa Clara.
“I am also trying to connect different Girl Scout troops across the country to help their communities and have reached out to the Girl Scout Council already,” she said. You can find out more about her effort and how to get involved at girlscoutsfightcorona.org.
And Aditya Indla, a sophomore at Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose, started a GoFundMe campaign that has raised more than $5,000 for Maker Nexus, a nonprofit that is using 3D printers to created face shields for healthcare workers. Bellarmine’s Maker Lab, under the direction of science teacher David Dutton, is producing and delivering parts to Maker Nexus. Of course, they’re following all the necessary social distancing protocols.
“They call it social distancing, but really it’s physical distancing, since as a social community, together we can do something positive and contribute to those on the front line against COVID-19,” Dutton said.
And it’s inspiring to see the youngest among us leading the charge.
TEAM EFFORT: With downtown San Jose construction stalled right now, real estate investor Urban Community has turned its attention to building something else — a nonprofit with business partners Voyager Craft Coffee, Academic Coffee, SP2 lounge and event company Non Plus Ultra. They’re all working together to provide Shelter in Place (SHIP) Kits for Santa Clara County residents who are struggling through the coronavirus shutdown.
Each kit will include nonperishable food like pasta and canned goods; sanitary necessities like toilet paper, paper towels and hand soap; and “boredom busters” like decks of cards, coloring books and jump ropes. The kits are aimed at hourly wage-earners and families in need with kids under 12.
The historic San Jose Armory building, which is owned by Urban Community, has been transformed into a SHIP Kit production facility for the time being. The first distribution took place Friday at the Unite Here! Local 19 office on Zanker Road, but more are expected to take place this month. You can get more information at www.sjshipkits.com.
“We wanted to get involved because we are seeing firsthand the impact of this crisis on our employees who we consider our family,” said Tin Le, owner of downtown’s SP2 Communal Bar + Restaurant. “We know that families and individuals are impacted so severely that they don’t know how they will be able to pay rent tomorrow, where they will get food to feed their children, or how they can protect themselves.”
Le said the response from the community has been overwhelming, but that enthusiasm will have to translate into more concrete support for the effort to work. “The feedback has been great, but without any kind of idea how long this will last, we’ll need donations and volunteers to carry us through,” he said.
WE’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER GARAGE: In addition to making bread and upping their alcohol consumption, it seems like everyone in the valley has decided to clean out their garage. Neighborhood email lists are filling up with offers of items of all sorts that people have decided they no longer need hanging around.
Susanne Belzer, who lives in San Jose’s Berryessa neighborhood, says she’s been going through her closets like everyone else and has piles of stuff that needs to go. “Salvation Army will be overwhelmed when this is over,” she said.
Her idea? When we’re done sheltering-in-place and social distancing, San Jose should designate a date for a citywide garage sale where everyone can put out their wares and go shopping in their neighborhoods. Of course, that means your garage and closets will be filled again — just with someone else’s old stuff.
