Fighting COVID-19 Together – By Courtney Williams

Fighting COVID-19 Together – By Courtney Williams

As an event organizer, one of my heart’s desires is to see lonely, outcast, and broken-hearted people find a place where they can feel accepted and find community. When I think of the word community, the first words that come to mind are support, inspiration, and connections. So when COVID-19 first arose, my initial thought was, “Oh no, community and connections are going to be lost!”. Okay, let me be honest: My actual first thought was “Oh man, there goes my job! I’m doomed!” And then once I came back to my senses, my second thought was the one mentioned before that. Today, I see that I was completely wrong! In fact, I have witnessed the community band together, dreams inspired, connections formed, and many acts of heroism and service from every angle.

As we know, COVID-19 has caused people to lose wages, and many of them have become food insecure. Food insecurity is dear to my heart, as there was once a time when I experienced food insecurity. During this time, I would feed my son, but not eat anything myself in order to have enough food for him the next day. I was too embarrassed to ask for help in fear that I would be judged, so I made the decision to suffer silently. There are many people experiencing this same feeling. Fortunately, COVID-19 has changed the trajectory of this issue and millions of people now have access to more food than they’ve ever had before. Every week, Feeding America partners with the school district and local restaurants to distribute free food to individuals and families. No one has to worry about being screened, signing papers, or any qualification processes to be fed. All they have to do is drive thru, and get their trunks filled with food. Because of these acts of generosity, people now have a place where they can consistently go and get enough food to feed themselves and their families. I have also partnered with two fundraisers and helped organize a food drive in my city. Countless people donated their personal funds and even food from their own pantries to help the needy.

Another positive thing that I am seeing during this COVID-19 time is that people are connected now more than they have ever been. Many people and organizations have created virtual support groups based around mental health, small business support, entrepreneurial empowerment, and more. I myself, am fortunate to have been able to start a Moms Connection group that meets bi-weekly. Our most recent meeting revealed that many moms have been feeling lonely, overwhelmed, and even battling depression. Almost every mother said that they did not have much of a social life and wished that they had a support group like this even before the pandemic. This is such great news!

So you see, even though this pandemic has caused lots of hardship and pain, it has also brought forth much generosity, integrity, heroism, kindness, community support, and compassionate acts of service. In both of the positive situations discussed around food and community, people felt more supported than they did before COVID-19. If we as a society can continue this humanistic approach even after the pandemic ends, the world can surely become and stay a better place. We are all in this together!

The Above video is one of the entries from “In Time of COVID19 Video & Essay Contest”

We believe that the pandemic has generated a treasure trove of interesting stories, valuable and relevant contents about humanity in all its spectrums. Stories about generosity, heroism, kindness and outstanding services to fellow human beings on the other.

Ding Ding TV (Silicon Valley Innovation Channel and Voice of Asian Americans) , CLUSA  together with 16 partners presented “In Time of COVID19 Video & Essay Contest” bringing these stories to our community and simultaneously acknowledge and honor their creators.

The contestant should read and follow the Contest Rulers published on May 10th 2020 from following link:

http://www.dingdingtv.com/?p=57035 

The contestant acknowledge Rule 5, 6

5)    If background music and other visual, verbal and sound (reference) material are used from internet, the contestant must possess copyrights or have explicit permission to use such  material(s).

6)    By entering this contest, the contestants will have given DingDingTV and Contest Partners explicit permission to distribute the video widely on media channels, the internet and social media sites such as Youtube, Facebook, WhatApp, WeChat, twitter….etc.