The Ultimate Sprint: Coronavirus, Community, and Creating the Counter Narrative

After a decade of being mischaracterized — about how techies are just in it for themselves and leaving the most vulnerable of SF to rot away — let’s create a counter narrative of our own. One that we can truly be proud of, and one that’s sorely needed at a truly pivotal moment.

As the Coronavirus pandemic rocks the world and our country, the focus has suddenly and understandably become our own immediate and individual safety and well-being: doing all the right CDC things (and sharing the facts and science on our social media like good citizens), making sure our own pantries and freezers are stocked up with healthy foods & living supplies, limiting exposure by working from home (and ideally completing that ergonomically optimized workstation for once), and ensuring our investments are as sound as can be to weather the rocky economic conditions ahead.

Great.

But now, others.

Thursday, the SFUSD announced it would shut down for two weeks in addition to the upcoming spring break period. With more than 50,000 students, the SFUSD isn’t just math and recess. It’s an entire social support institution providing (to state the obvious) daily nutrition, structure, and care for kids, and childcare and working time for parents. I’m not even a parent, but it’s already apparent how difficult this will be for the students and families affected by the closure. Most striking is that more than half of the SFUSD students — that’s more than 25,000 children — are socioeconomically disadvantaged. One of my best friends is the principal of John Muir Elementary School, where less than 5% of the students are non-Hispanic white (compared to about 15% of SFUSD elementary students generally and 40% of the general SF population). It’s about to get really hard for the populations like the one she serves. To put it bluntly, they’re going to be fucked in the next few weeks.

But we can help if we’re up for it. Not just with blood or money donations (and tipping [big!] for the latter), but arguably just as, if not more importantly, with our time. With our presence. As much of it as we have to give, whether it’s an hour or a day. For people in less at-risk demographics who are feeling healthy and altruistic, manpower can make a huge difference right now.

I’ve been reaching out to entities that are likely to be involved in the coming weeks with food distribution, childcare, and public health. Here are the three key ways I’ve found so far that people with even just a few hours of availability to volunteer can be of effective service in the near term. I will update this post as I learn more.

1. Volunteer at a Pop-Up Pantry with the SF-Marin Food Bank. Our food bank gives out 48 million pounds of food each year, serving 32,000 families each week. I spoke to the both the director of development at the SFMFB, and turns out their volunteer force is already down 60% right now, and that’s obviously before this situation hits rock bottom. As CalMatters.org reported extensively this morning, food banks across the state, which serve about 2 million Californians annually, are facing precipitous drops in volunteers. They need people now more than ever to both keep normal operations going and to prepare for new operations, like preparing emergency food kits, different distribution challenges, and to support the families most affected by the school closure.
   Here’s how: sign up to help with an SF-Marin Food Bank Pop-Up Pantry.
2. Volunteer with the SFUSD. The District is facing an unprecedented situation to provide services to our City’s most vulnerable students and families. From what I’ve learned in talking with folks in the SFUSD, right now they are literally just trying to ensure some sites can operate as robustly — and as close to these students’ actual neighborhoods — as possible to provide just even the basics. They’re going to need help onsite, but they don’t even know what that looks and feels like yet (it’s probably: helping with meals, chaperoning programs, and just being on-hand). Obviously it will be in neighborhoods some only venture to for craft beer, or chic garden supplies. It will be with students and families that we like to support via window posters (“In this house, we believe…!”), but maybe haven’t otherwise in IRL. It might conflict with the lunchtime yoga class that’s suddenly available because of WFH. But let’s choose community care as self care.
   Here’s how: sign up to volunteer with the SFUSD using this form. Do it now so they can gauge our support and plan accordingly.
3. Volunteer with Project Open Hand. Prepare food like chopping, slicing, dicing, peeling, grating, and/or mincing of vegetables for the kitchen chefs. Label meal containers for distribution, package prepared hot meals in containers, and other related kitchen duties.
   Here’s how: sign up for specific shifts *right now* at the Project Open Hand volunteer page.

This is definitely a sprint effort. Let’s bring our full selves to work.

I know it’s frustrating. We all wish our actual systems and institutions were just so good that they didn’t even need this blog post to exist. If everything could just be a well-oiled machine, with OKRs and Daily Stand-Ups to keep the plans on track, and kombucha-fueled war rooms with a plethora of satisfyingly juicy (but low-odor, natch) dry-erase markers for getting real when shit hits the fan.

After about a decade of being pummeled with stories and criticism about how our city is more divided into haves and have-nots than ever, about how techies are just in it for themselves and leaving the most vulnerable of SF to rot away, and just about every other mischaracterization and generalization of many of us who also call SF home, let’s create a counter narrative of our own. One that we can truly be proud of, and one that’s sorely needed at this pivotal moment.

So when the world wants to make it about either “us” or “them”, let’s clap back this time: “why not both?”

[Note: the primary audience for this post is a relatively well-off, healthy, and generally privileged San Francisco resident. And obviously don’t do things that put your own health and safety at real risk.]