During a time when most of what we see and hear from media induces anxiety, fear, and confusion, a dose of positivity and stories of acts of kindness can help soothe. Truly there is a silver lining that exists when we pay attention, and we are fortunate to be part of community that is willing and able to help, support, and create uplifting new possibilities. Bellevue Lifestyle is proud share some of this local "Good News" with you.
A Good Neighbor
Amazon
On every normal school day there are 3,500 Bellevue students who rely on free school breakfast and lunch for nutrition. When schools closed, Bellevue School District and the community had to act quickly to find and provide immediate solutions for kids and families in need of food and essential supplies. Bellevue LifeSpring, is a non-profit that has been working since 1911 to foster stability and self-sufficiency for Bellevue’s children and their families, through programs that provide food, clothing, education and emergency assistance.
The organization worked strategically with the School District to provide grocery gift cards and other assistance, but transportation barriers meant access to emergency resources remained difficult for many families.
Enter our new Bellevue neighbor, Amazon, who’s commitment to “Right Now Needs” in the communities they serve helped solve the transportation barrier issue. Amazon’s donation and partnership with Bellevue LifeSpring, made it possible for families in isolation, or without transportation, to utilize credits to have eligible grocery, food, health and personal care items delivered directly to their homes.
“Amazon has been an incredible partner during this critical time,” says Jennifer Fischer, executive director for Bellevue LifeSpring, “They came to the table with an immediate solution to fill an important gap. Working together, we are ensuring that hunger is not another symptom of this virus.”
Scissor! Camera! Cut!
Jessi Sites, Entrepreneur
Jessi Sites, a Medina Mom and small business owner, leads an active online life when she is not working. She says she was inspired to to contribute her skills early in the Stay at Home order, “in that weird time in between being told not to wear masks, and then being told it was a good idea.” Medical grade masks were in short supply, even for frontline response workers, so she fashioned a solution for the average person. She pulled out her oversupply of loud printed, stretchy leggings, and decided to create a mask-making tutorial video that went viral. With her eleven year old son operating the camera, they shot the video in one take, “Honestly, I thought maybe 50 of my friends would watch it,” said Sites.
The video ended up with 700k views on Facebook and when Jessi created her new YouTube channel called Life Soup, it attracted another 600k views. Spending time at home has given her both a valuable lesson, “Put a little effort into hair and makeup before you put anything out!” and a reminder to look for silver linings, like the simple pleasure of a scaled down backyard birthday party and time to make homemade cookies. “I hope we don”t lose this,” she said.
Curb to Table
Angela Rozmyn Director of Sustainable Development, Natural and Built Environments LLC
Angela Rozmyn knows how to draw a crowd. In addition to her day job, she writes a personal finance blog called TreadLightlyRetireEarly.com and runs an associated 15,000 member women’s personal finance Facebook group. An avowed foodie and community advocate she started the popular new Facebook group called Eastside Restaurant Support. Rozmyn was inspired by a similar group in Seattle to use her expertise to give herself and others a way to support the hard hit local restaurant industry and frontline workers, “We live in a time where its easy to feel helpless, especially if you don’t work in a frontline job. So many people, like me, are still in decent financial situations and want to know how they can help. This group encourages a focus on our local community, and gives people a tangible way to make a difference right now.” The group has grown quickly to over 4,500 members and has become a go to place for restaurant recommendations, menu tips and insider secrets, it has also spawned an interactive map to track restaurants open during the stay at home order. The group saw over 35,000 engagements in its first month, with Angela and moderators encouraging interaction with questions and themes like #TakeoutTuesday and #FrontlineFriday to inspire members to share their own stories about the restaurants they own, work at and support. Angela’s family has diverted their travel budget to take out and will remember this as a time when so many people stepped up to help. “Especially in hard times, it helps to look to those who are doing good. We are all in this together.”