A pair of Bedford Middle School 7th graders (and Science Olympiad team members) have taken distance learning to a new level.
Using information from the CDC and WHO, Adi Mittal and Andrew Rebello created a website that helps anyone in the US find the nearest coronavirus hotspot — a place in their state with a noteworthy number of cases.
Hotspotsnearu.com (click here) is insanely easy to use. Just click in your Zip code; you’ll see a map with information on your distance from it. Bookmark it, and check often!
Daniel Sullivan — Westporter Michael and Amy Greenberg’s son-in-law — is a chef. When furloughed on March 13, he was in the process of starting a catering business.
Still, he wanted to help others in need. With an 18-foot open-air BBQ trailer — including a smoker and wood-fired grill — the answer was easy.
On Facebook, Daniel hoped to raise $600. That would cover a great meal, for 200 hospital staff.
He blasted through that goal. Friends came through with $2,700.
Soon he’ll cook meals for Stamford Hospital and Orange Regional Medical Center, in his Middletown, New York home town. He hopes to do the same for Norwalk Hospital, and Westport’s police, fire and EMT workers.
“I want to keep folks fed as long as I can,” Daniel says. To help him do that, click here.
Daniel Sullivan
Westport River Gallery — the great spot on the corner of Post Road West and Riverside Avenue featuring American, European and Asian fine art — is closed.
But owner Ken Warren — who works inside, cleaning and hanging — put this sign outside:
A steady stream of people stop, pick up a piece of two, knock on the window and give a thumb’s-up. One man left a $20 bill.
“Free candy helps people smiling during an unsmiling time,” Ken says. Candy on indeed!
Julia Marino — Westport’s Olympic snowboarding star — made a PSA for the US nation team’s “Goggles for Docs” initiative. The project collects ski and snowboard goggles, which offer great protection for healthcare professionals as they work with COVID-19 patients.
Julia’s mother Elaine — a noted local volunteer — loved the idea. Her home is now a local collection point.
Anyone with new or used goggles (adult or children’s size) can sanitize them with wipes or spray, place them in a sealed plastic ban, then leave them in a bin on the front steps at 129 Sturges Highway (near Cross Highway). The sealed part is important: The top of the bin stays open, so no one touches it. Questions? Email esmarino@msn.com.
Elaine Marino, and her Goggles for Docs bin.
Yesterday, Virginia Jaffe and her Greens Farms Elementary School sewing moms donated 135 washable, re-usable masks to Norwalk Transit’s bus drivers. Next up: 100+ to Homes with Hope.
Westporter Kanika Taylor works with homeless and recovering addicts in Bridgeport, through CCAR. She says that while Sacred Heart University has generously opened its dorms to people in shelters who have the virus but don’t require hospitalization, sheets, blankets, paper plates and microwaveable dishes are desperately needed. Donations can be dropped off at 387 Clinton Avenue, Bridgeport.
In addition, financial donations can be made to a restaurant that provides 2 fresh meals to Bridgeporters; the cost is $10 for food and supplies. Send checks to Carmen Colon, c/o Alpha Community Services YMCA, 387 Clinton Avenue, Bridgeport, CT 06605.
Kanika Taylor
And finally, the youth group of St. Luke Church created this video. It’s their Easter gift to Westport:
Hotspot tracker is nice work by Adi and Andrew.
Only quibble is it is based on counties (which they note) rather than towns so conveniently points to Fairfield for Fairfield County despite Fairfield having fewer cases that Westport (or Norwalk, Stamford, Bridgeport and Greenwich for that matter). Might be better to just point to counties rather than pick towns that may be misleading. Just a suggestion from a user.
Wow! This is the church where I practiced back then. But it was Mr Jolley at Staples who truly taught us Staples students about Jesus! Thank you Alan Jolley!
That’s great that people are trying to help make masks but I hope they are warning the bus drivers that the masks will not do much to protect the wearer. Just like doctors wear surgical masks, they are to protect the patient from the doctor , not the doctor from the patient. A false sense of security from a homemade mask is dangerous.