Prosek Gives Back from Home
As our remote work and social distancing continues into the summer, Prosek continues to find ways to volunteer from anywhere. Check out how Prosekians are giving back from home!
Prosek Partner’s Give Back Team: HOPE Interview Project
Prosek has a long standing relationship with The HOPE Program, a workforce development nonprofit that helps at-risk New Yorkers transcend poverty and prepare them to find and retain employment.
Twenty Prosek volunteers gathered for a virtual series of mock interviews to help HOPE students prepare for upcoming interviews. Prosek is no stranger to the HOPE Interview Project, but this was the first time that we did so in a remote capacity by utilizing Zoom breakout rooms.
Prior to the event, Catherine Adams and Charlotte Bader, two HR representatives at Prosek, also conducted a training seminar to HOPE employees where they offered training advice for preparing students and HOPE employer partners for interviewing in a remote world.
Kearney Dewing: Tie Dye for Pine Street Inn
While this health crisis has devastated the world in many different ways, COVID-19 is hitting those with the fewest options — people who lack resources or permanent housing, who are elderly, and who may have chronic health problems — with particular intensity. In support of Pine Street Inn, a local Boston homeless shelter, I began tie dying articles of clothing to donate the proceeds to Pine Street’s Covid-Relief-Fund – I was able to donate over $500.00! I tie dyed shirts, sweatshirts, tank tops, you name it – but eventually had to give my Dad back his workshop 😉
This donation helped with many different efforts such as adding mobile handwashing stations throughout their properties; hanging plastic sheeting between shelter beds with guests sleeping in the same bed every night; identifying quarantine sites for those who are sick to secure additional space to further reduce crowded conditions in our shelters; serving meals in shifts to ensure proper social distancing; etc. Thank you to all those that purchased!
Emily Roy: Fostering Peanut with PAWS NY
My roommate and I applied to foster a dog back in March (when there were no dogs left in the city to foster!) through an organization I regularly volunteer with, PAWS NY. PAWS connects volunteers with vulnerable New Yorkers who have pets, but might need some help getting them outside for walks, cleaning the litterbox, etc. We got an email that Peanut’s mom had taken a fall and would be recovering in a rehab facility for two months. We jumped on the chance to welcome Peanut into our home and help someone in need. He’s 14 years old and truly the sweetest. Taking him out for walks, bringing him to the park, getting ice cream (his favorite) and showing him on video calls has certainly been a quarantine bright spot!
Emma Stanton: Community Effort to Support Healthcare Workers in NYC
As the COVID-19 crisis escalated in early April, my husband and I connected with eleven friends to figure out how we could support local healthcare staff. As construction was halted in NYC, we figured that many building companies would have unused stocks of PPE that could be dispersed to desperately in need local hospitals. We decided to form the Irish America in Support of Health Care Workers “Meitheal” campaign as a community effort to source and distribute vital PPE equipment to non-profit hospitals in the NY metro area. The project name “Meitheal,” is an Irish-language word meaning 'neighbors helping neighbors'.
By spreading the word of what we needed, we were able to source and donate over 8,000 N95 masks, 63,000 nitrile gloves, 1,600 Tyvek suits, 600 face shields and 5,500 surgical masks to community healthcare facilities across New York including, Elmhurst General, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, BronxCare Health System, Metropolitan Hospital, St. Barnabas Medical Center and Calvary Hospital. Through a number of online fundraisers and community outreach initiatives, the campaign raised just over $60,000, which was donated directly to hospitals most in need of PPE. Through partnerships with local restaurants, over 600 meals were also delivered to frontline healthcare workers. All donations were delivered carefully while observing social distancing rules. On numerous occasions, the nurses came out to thank us and were very emotional and grateful for the community support.
Juliette Dixon: Sewing Masks for Community Members
It was mid-March. Masks, cleaning products and Purell were sold out of stores. The CDC had yet to widely acknowledge that cloth face coverings could aid in stopping the spread of infectious droplets, something we now know could have saved countless lives.
In my small town, I watched as postal workers, store employees and bus drivers continued to work tirelessly as the backbone of our community with no protection. Like many others, COVID-19 had left me feeling helpless as we listened to the briefings and watched the rate of infections and deaths tick up by the thousands.
Feeling helpless in a time of overwhelming uncertainty motivated me to take action. An avid ballet dancer for most of my life, I dusted off my old sewing machine and got to work making masks. For the next few weeks, my sister and I logged off from work each evening and ramped up our assembly line where we cut old bedsheets and ballet tights to construct durable, washable masks. Over the course of the next few weeks, we left our individually packaged handmade masks outside with a little note of thanks for delivery and postal workers as we waved them on from a safe distance.
During this unique time of isolation, it is extremely important to remember the power each person has in stopping the spread of COVID-19. Whether it is making masks, or simply wearing them when you are unable to socially distance, this pandemic has taught me the incredible importance of collective action. As a global community, we continue to learn how small actions lead to systemic change and making masks allowed me to understand how we truly are all in this together. Through this mentality we will save each other’s lives.
