OT: What good have you seen?

[Keith A]

I realize that in times like these, we focus on all of the negative things that are happening. So I was interested in hearing about the good in other people. It doesn't have to be related to our coronavirus issue, but I'll start with one that does relate to this current pandemic.

The other day someone posted this message on our Nextdoor website...

What can I do?
I'm pretty much out of food. I don't have a car. Im disabled and 55 years old. I have a cold and a cough but not the virus. I can't order delivery from Publix or Walmart because I have food stamps. Does anyone know how I can maybe get some milk and maybe a box of cereal?
I'm pretty embarrassed to ask. I do have almost a dozen eggs so I can cook those. People are saying that the stores don't have bread,milk or much of anything. Just like everyone else I don't know how long it's going to be before the stores are going to be able to put food back on the shelves. I can't go and check everyday...I would appreciate any help as to where I might be able to find items without having to go all over...
Thank you very much..

This request was met with a bunch of responses of people bringing food over immediately as well a numerous offers to shop for this individual. It was very touching.

[paredown]

My lovely wife volunteered yesterday with our local foodbank--she was the "young" one (and had a mask and gloves) so they put her as the "door" person to figure out who the arriving clients were, did they have a pickup window etc, and make sure they left with the right box of groceries.

A couple of others (not young) are still delivering Meals on Wheels--taking appropriate precautions.

[AngryScientist]

Our local school system immediately prioritized setting up a "take out" system for lunches for any child <18 to get free lunch every day. We understand that many kids have their best/only good meal provided free at school and i was happy to see the town rose to the occasion and kept that lifeboat afloat for a lot of families.

[Keith A]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

Our local school system immediately prioritized setting up a "take out" system for lunches for any child <18 to get free lunch every day. We understand that many kids have their best/only good meal provided free at school and i was happy to see the town rose to the occasion and kept that lifeboat afloat for a lot of families.

Nick -- our county is doing the same

[Seramount]

have noticed a distinct uptick in the number of people that wave at me when I'm out riding.

with the dramatic drop in auto traffic, drivers don't seem as aggressive.

both are nice trends.

[Idris Icabod]

In my homeland (UK):
Yesterday at 7.59 there was a mass clap and cheer for the NHS workers. Video of it is all over, brought tears to my eyes:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-52058013
More than 600,000 volunteered to help with delivering food and medicines to the vulnerable in the UK.
I work in Pharma. We had a stock room full of N95 masks, hand sanitizer, gowns and gloves. Every single item was donated to our hospital system.

[speedevil]

Was out riding yesterday with 2 friends. We waved at pretty much everyone, waves were returned. One of the guys bonked pretty bad - so one guy backtracked to a store to pick up some breakfast bars, I went to try and get some water from a house down the road. The guy at the house had been out in his UTV and remembered seeing us. He gave me two bottles of water. Helped our bonking rider a lot. The other guy got back with some bars and gatorade and a few minutes later we were all heading back to our start point.

A few miles down the road we stopped as the bonking guy was cramping pretty bad. The guy at the house came out with some gatorade and offered it to us. We still had some, and politely thanked him but declined.

There are good people around that will offer help. We had courteous drivers too, and a wave can't help but be a good thing. Kind of restores my faith in humanity, at least in our little corner of the world.

[Bruce K]

Lots of positives from our School District:
- We are distributing over 1100 meals per day to families in need.
- Every student has a Chromebook.
- Online learning is finishing week 1 with over 50% participating and climbing.
- Kids are dropping into chat rooms and live meetings to connect with teachers and each other.
- Teachers are making weekly wellness check phone calls to all our students to make sure no child/family is in need

BK

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by speedevil

Was out riding yesterday with 2 friends. We waved at pretty much everyone, waves were returned. One of the guys bonked pretty bad - so one guy backtracked to a store to pick up some breakfast bars, I went to try and get some water from a house down the road. The guy at the house had been out in his UTV and remembered seeing us. He gave me two bottles of water. Helped our bonking rider a lot. The other guy got back with some bars and gatorade and a few minutes later we were all heading back to our start point.

A few miles down the road we stopped as the bonking guy was cramping pretty bad. The guy at the house came out with some gatorade and offered it to us. We still had some, and politely thanked him but declined.

There are good people around that will offer help. We had courteous drivers too, and a wave can't help but be a good thing. Kind of restores my faith in humanity, at least in our little corner of the world.

lol. i guess social distancing isnt your thing huh?

[speedevil]

You can ride "together" and keep a distance from the other riders. Not too difficult, really.

[bigbill]

The Archdiocese of Phoenix has the St Mary's Food Bank. They are sending pallets of food to this town where it is distributed at the Catholic Church, the Seventh Day Adventists, and the JW's. No religious affiliation required, just an ID or some confirmation that proves you're local. They get my money.

[biker72]

NO TRAFFIC!!! I can ride virtually anywhere with no cars.
I do stay away from White Rock Lake and the adjacent bike paths because of all the people.

Exercise is good but the crowds I've seen at the lake on TV look like a NY rush hour subway.

[jtbadge]

Originally Posted by speedevil

You can ride "together" and keep a distance from the other riders. Not too difficult, really.

not really how it works. the six feeting distance is for passing around people.

when you ride with other people, whoever is in front of you is breathing out a cloud that you ride right through and breathe in for the entire duration if your ride. don't ride with people you don't live with, no matter how far of a distance you think you're keeping.

[john903]

I am a school bus driver for our school district and our district is doing the same as Angry and Bruce said. The kids are learning on line, teachers checking in with each student, bus drivers are delivering meals to specific locations for staff to pass out to any and all students.
Actually things are going pretty well as the students and parents adapt to the new schedule. I know several parents who have made it clear this is not time off to goof off. The parents set up guide lines and structured the kids day to be similar to school day. Me, yea I have to say I miss seeing "my" kids every morning and every afternoon but we will get through this.
Have a Great day at a distance of course.

[BlueFly]

I just received this message. This is great news from a great company. Keep them moving forward. (No, i am not affiliated in any way).

/***** BEGIN **************/

We are in tough times right now. Our hearts go out to those who are suffering, either physically or mentally, and our extreme gratitude goes to those battling on the front lines. Although fear comes in waves for all of us, we have growing hope and faith as we see people working for the greater good, because it reminds us that we are all in this together.

As a small family business in California, we closed our headquarters to help flatten the curve, but naturally wanted to help where we could. After much thought, we decided to help the tremendous mask shortage by reopening our production, switching gears, and having our team work on cutting and sewing masks.

These masks will not be sold, but donated, to organizations in our community and around the country who are in desperate need during this time.
At this time producing masks will be our top priority, but we will be able to ship in stock items and work on custom orders in between. We are choosing to donate and not sell the masks, so your continued orders of caps, jerseys, gift cards or even just sharing Walz Caps with a friend, will allow us to continue to pay our staff and purchase supplies to produce masks to donate.
We hope that all of you are staying safe, staying healthy, and staying home. We also hope to hear more stories of how individuals, businesses, and organizations are working together to fight for our future. Please continue to share those stories with us on social media. It is truly inspiring.

Stay well.
We will all ride together again soon.

Michael and Jennifer Gilstrap
Owners, Walz Caps

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