Atlantans Band Together to Help Amidst the Pandemic

The true spirit of a community shines brightest in its darkest moments. This is certainly true in Atlanta, where people are pitching in to help their neighbors. From making masks for healthcare providers to selling yard signs to raise funds for artists, people are showing their love and concern for their fellow citizens in a myriad of heartwarming ways.

As the Midtown Alliance highlighted, restaurants have offered free meals to out-of-work service industry workers and first responders, a condo community has created message boards to connect people who need help and costume shop employees from the Alliance Theatre as well as staff at Atlanta Ballet are making face masks for medical workers.

They are not the only ones. 11-Alive reported that hundreds of people around the city are making thousands of face masks in their homes to send to nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers. While the masks do not have the safety features of the hard-to-find N95 masks, they nonetheless provide  some  much-needed protection.

A number of restaurants are coming together to help employees who have been laid off as well as others in the community. According to Eater, restaurants that have been forced to close or furlough staff because of limited hours of operation are helping others in a number of ways.

Some, like Staplehouse, are forming makeshift soup kitchens. Staplehouse, the for-profit subsidiary of Giving Kitchen, has joined forces with Giving Kitchen to create “The Giving Soup Kitchen”, where foodservice industry workers who have been laid off can get meals at no cost while keeping Staplehouse staff employed. The food comes from restaurants that have been forced to close their doors and have an excess supply of food that would otherwise go to waste. People who want to help out financially can contribute money that will go towards paying salaries.

In the city of Dunwoody, the Spruill Center for the Arts began selling “Everything Will Be OK” signs to area residents for $25 each, with proceeds going to artists who are struggling because of the pandemic. $40,000 has already been raised, and national media outlets have featured the story. The original mural was created outside the Spruill Gallery by Jason Kofke in 2009, and he is selling his own signs on his website, also to benefit artists. (Our Managing Partner, Sean Taylor, is pictured here with his family in front of their sign.)

Curbed Atlanta collected a number of uplifting stories in March, including about how Atlantans have helped Meals on Wheels deliver thousands of meals to high-risk elderly residents, and neighbors who turned out in full force to celebrate a 7-year-old’s birthday while maintaining social distancing policies.

To close on a very cute note, here are videos from the Georgia Aquarium featuring visits by adorable puppies and kittens to the aquarium while it is closed to the public. Seeing them frolic put a smile on all our faces!

At a stressful time, it is heartwarming to know there is so much good being done everywhere, and it is our pleasure to bring this compilation to you as a break from hard-hitting business stories. We invite you to submit your heartwarming, inspirational stories of our community coming together using the contact form below!