Loved and Lost project hits milestone, identifies 1,000 COVID-19 victims
The statewide collaborative in New Jersey is led by the Center for Cooperative Media and NorthJersey.com
By Betsy Abraham
Last week the Loved and Lost project hit a milestone: we marked the 1,000th name added to our Wall of Names memorializing New Jersey victims of the coronavirus.
When we created the Wall of Names, we knew that the death toll would increase, but we never imagined how rapidly and how high in our state. The stories have been heartbreaking: young parents leaving behind infants, medical workers dying after taking care of COVID patients and families losing multiple members to the virus.
The Wall of Names has allowed us to pay tribute to these lives — lives that should never be forgotten.
This work is far from finished. More than 22,000 New Jersey residents have died due to COVID-19, the disease causes by the coronavirus, and we want to identify and write about as many of them as possible. If you’ve lost a loved one, you can tell us about them here.
Since launching 11 months ago, the project has evolved from a solo effort shepherded by NorthJersey.com into a statewide media collaborative with more than 30 media partners coordinated by the Center for Cooperative Media at Montclair State University. Early development of the collaborative was funded by The Nicholson Foundation.
Newsrooms both large and small have joined us, as have independent journalists and storytellers. These media partners play a crucial role by promoting the project, identifying victims, and producing stories about those who have died of COVID-19. We’re still looking for media partners to join us, so if you’re interested, you can learn more here and sign up here.
Find out more about the project and how you can help bring these stories to light at LovedandLostNJ.com or by contacting me at abrahamb@montclair.edu.
Betsy Abraham is the project manager of Loved and Lost, a statewide media collaborative run by the Center for Cooperative Media that aims to identify and share the stories of New Jersey’s coronavirus victims. She can be reached at abrahamb@montclair.edu.
About the Center for Cooperative Media: The Center is a grant-funded program of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University. Its mission is to grow and strengthen local journalism, and in doing so serve New Jersey residents. The Center is supported with funding from Montclair State University, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund, the New Jersey Local News Lab (a partnership of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, Democracy Fund, and Community Foundation of New Jersey), and the Abrams Foundation. For more information, visit CenterforCooperativeMedia.org.
