Action #1 – More masks please! They need at least 3000!
Update 3/25/2020: Ventura’s mask-making volunteers have made the New York Times! Check out the bottom paragraphs of this article! Then check out this video of the project from KEYT. Local high school students are also using 3D-printing to create face shields for medical workers. Ventura County is full of awesome people!
Update from Amy Towner, CEO of Health Care Foundation for Ventura County, Inc.:
“Our community continues to grow, today 250+ people to help protect and serve our county. Infection control is thrilled with the quality of masks being produced as is administration, doctors and nurses. (We knew all along that we could produce something better than money could buy and made with love to provide additional protection). We have about 50 masks in current stock and we need at least 3,000 and we can do it. The processes are completely in place throughout hospitals on use of these masks that are stellar best practices. Other hospitals are copying the best practice protocols Ventura County has in place.
- Send an email to Amy here to volunteer (do this first!) Tell her the following:
- Full Name
- Cell Phone
- Email address
- Full residential address
- Need/donation
- “I have fabric/thread supply to donate”
- “I need need fabric so I can sew”
- “I can drive for supply/demand”
- Mask pattern, instructions, fabric specifications and drop-off information are here.
Action #2 – Check your garage and storage areas for unused baby monitors!
From Amy Towner: “We may still need baby monitors with video to monitor patient rooms for nurses in the overflow rooms when the surge happens. Please stay at the ready if I need to put out the plea.” Please prepare the unit by:
- Sanitizing the entire unit including the cords,
- If it takes batteries and you have extra, please include extras. Put this in a ziplock or plastic bag with your name, email, cell and address on it for a future thank you note.“
- Email Amy if you have one.
Action #3 – Feeding healthcare workers!
From Amy Towner: “Our BIGGEST challenge is going to be feeding our healthcare workers… For 300 workers at Ventura County Medical Center and 100 at Santa Paula Hospital, that’s 400 x $10/day in food x 7 = $28,000 x 8 weeks = $224,000.
We are going to need some donors… Please be creative, think outside the box and lean in for ideas and connections… Feeding our workforce is the most beautiful expression of how we can nurture healthcare workers as they care for our community, alongside protecting them with masks. …At this time, we need this deep primal connectedness to one another.”
- To make a tax-deductible donation, go here.
Action #4 – United Way of Ventura County needs help too!
United Way of Ventura County is recruiting people to help in the 211 volunteer corps, which can be done remotely from home. Ventura County’s social services hotline has been inundated with calls over the past couple of weeks. Some have questions related to COVID-19 and others need support.
On a typical day, the center would get 150 calls. Now, the call volume is in the thousands, said Mitchel Sloan, United Way vice president.
The 211 line needs 48 volunteers a day. Volunteers must be at least 18. and need a laptop and headset.If they don’t have their own, the organization will provide them. People answer calls on four-hour or eight-hour shifts between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. People can volunteer on-site at a temporary call center in Camarillo or do so remotely from home. For both options, however, on-site training in Camarillo is required.
- To sign up or get more information, go to http://www.volunteerventuracounty.org/.
Action #5 – The 805UNDOCUfund has been reopened!
The 805 UndocuFund is a collective effort among Ventura and Santa Barbara County-based grassroots organizations to assist local undocumented immigrant individuals and families who are excluded from federally funded safety net programs; that have been economically impacted by the loss of their homes, wages, and/or employment due to disasters in our community like wildfires, mudslides, and the coronavirus.
- Learn more about this fund that serves some of our hardest working residents here.
- To donate online, go here.
Action #6 – Ventura County Area Agency on Aging seeks volunteers.
Ventura County Area Agency on Aging (info here) is seeking volunteers to make food deliveries or work in the agency’s senior nutrition garden to help harvest produce, which is given to area residents.
- Contact lois.vcaaa@ventura.org with your name, phone number, and cities where they can volunteer.
Action #7 – Food Share seeks volunteers.
Food Share needs volunteers to help sort donations, pack boxes and help out pantries. The need is critical now. The organization is trying to double how much food it can provide as needs increase.
- To volunteer, go to foodshare.com/volunteer.
- To donate, go to https://foodshare.com/donate/.
Action #8 – Did you find a box of gloves or masks in your garage?
If you found some commercial medical masks and gloves during your lockdown/spring cleaning, you can donate them to medical professionals – go here. If you live in Ventura County, you can also contact Amy Towner here.
Action #9 – Do you have some computer skills?
If you have high tech skills to volunteer – join the “Design to Combat COVID-19 Community.”
- We are a community of volunteers who refuse to sit on the sidelines.
- We want to virtually assist where we can, and want to take action now.
- We are community of designers, engineers and creatives who want to remotely volunteer their skills and help create innovative solutions to support others affected by the pandemic.
- We have the virtual resources, with the passion to help get involved, and can assist those affected by helping the best way we know how.
If we’ve missed an important volunteer opportunity to help our community in this time of crisis, tell us. Send emails here: indivisibleventura@gmail.com. We will be updating this post.
