By: Sydney Davis
ATLANTA, Ga. — As the number of COVID-19 cases continues to increase in the U.S., so does the amount of people in need. People in need of financial assistance, food donations, help adapting to the daily changes of the nation, the list goes on.
Students are searching for ways that they can become involved in fulfilling some of those needs. But with health concerns and working to ensure social distancing guidelines are followed, finding ways to fulfill these needs have become difficult.
According to an Instagram survey, 80 percent of students say they make time to volunteer every year, 67 percent of which say they have not found a way to stay involved in their community, and 93 percent of which say they were interested in receiving info on ways to give back during this time.
While Arkansas is not currently on the list of states under lockdown, many students now reside in states that are under shelter-in-place orders. “It tests us in areas that we might not be used to so that pushes us, and we learn how to adapt to circumstances that we haven’t been in before,”said Sydney Hammit, a graduate student at the University; just as people are finding ways to adapt, so are the mediums through which we are able to assist those in need.
Here are a list of ways that individuals can virtually serve no matter where they are through websites and phone applications:
- LibriVox – allows individuals to record free public audio books.
- 7Cups – allows volunteers to become active listeners for users experiencing emotional distress.
- YouDescribe – create audio descriptions for Youtube videos to improve accessibility for the blind and the visually-impaired.
- FreeRice – volunteers can answer quiz questions that will result in the donation of rice to families in need.
- Be My Eyes – connects the blind and visually impaired with a sighted volunteer.
- Amnesty Decoders – volunteers help researchers sift through pictures, information, and. Documents.
- Translators Without Borders– volunteers help to close the language gaps (must be fluent in a language other than your native language)
- United Nations Volunteers (UNV) Online — volunteers help. To address sustainable development challenges.
- Smithsonian Digital Transcription– volunteers help make historical documents and biodiversity data more accessible
- Crisis Text Line – volunteers work remotely on a 24/7 text line for people in crisis in the U.S.
Hammit says although these resources were invented to help entities outside of yourself, she hopes they still find a way to grow volunteers inwardly. “I think that this going to really increase communication skills and allow people to realize value of community and being with people, and so I think that it’s gonna definitely help us to not take things for granted too,” said Hammit.
All resources can be accessed free of charge.