2020 Updated List of Coronavirus Resources
The global coronavirus pandemic has put a pause on many people’s everyday life, some businesses are stepping up to ease the transition and help out during the quarantines. Job closings, access to food, layoffs and mental health concerns from isolation and change in lifestyles are all concerns that could be impacting you and your neighbors. Some of these resources may soften the blow or allow you to take advantage of more family or self improvement time to arise from the quarantine stronger, healthier and with new outlooks.
Free Food For Children Impacted by Coronavirus School Closings
A great many working families in America depend on the school lunch program to provide healthy and nutritious meals for their children. With the nationwide impact to the economy and business closings, many parents may be without the resources to provide necessary meals to their children. In the US, over 12 Million children live n food-insecure homes and over 22 million children depend on free or reduced school lunches.
Many organizations and businesses have stepped forward to assist in this concern
Many school programs are aware of their importance to the community and are continuing pick-up services for school lunches for their community. Review your local school website to confirm whether this opportunity is available for your children
Burger King – Free Kids Meal Offer
Starting on Monday, March 23, Burger King will offer free kids meals for children.
This is an effort to help families affected by the coronavirus pandemic, meals will be available nationwide with any purchase through the Burger King app. Free meals for kids can be redeemed one time daily per guest, through April 6. The free meals will be available at participating locations on takeout and drive-thru orders.
Burger King App On Google Play
Burger King App on Apple App Store
Local Resources For Free Lunches For Children
If your local school is not offering school lunches and you are not excited about getting Burger King for your children daily, there is a high likelihood that a local restaurant or regional chain is offering similar offers. Local community support groups are popping up quickly on Facebook and people are willing to help their neighbors. Check your local churches for food pantry options or emergency support funds, There is certainly a program to assist you, reach out in your local community, people are prepared to help.
Please also use this tool to find your local food bank
Educational Resources To Help Teach Kids At Home
A great portion of American parents just got a considerable wake up call about the realities of teaching their children. It’s not easy! Keeping to a schedule, developing new habits and routines and finding novel ways to keep learning exciting is going to be quite a challenge, but it is not a new challenge.
Your local school likely developed lesson plans and resources for your children but if the closings extend past original planned dates, which is very likely, be aware that many organizations have stepped up to provide helpful resources and the online education and homeschooling communities have significant free, affordable or trial offers to help with educational resources for children.
Scholastic
Scholastic has put together daily lesson plans that include educational content, videos and virtual field trips. The courses are separated by grade level and provide a readily available supplement or core resource to develop a plan for your children’s educational needs.
Scholastic: Learn At Home
The website is accessible on any device that has internet and no sign up is required. It will remain free and open indefinitely
Khan Academy Kids
Khan Academy has a substantial infrastructure for course development and has age and grade level courses available for free with self paced interactive option for K-12 Students. They are also having daily (weekdays) 9am PST/12 EST live streams on Facebook and YouTube for students, parents and teachers navigating school closures. They have posted templates for daily schedules and have supporting coursework including reading, videos and podcasts.
Khan Academy CoursesAdditional Resources for Free Classes for Children
- ProdigyGames – Free Student and Parent Accounts for Online Education
- DuoLingo – Free Language Learning App
- Walt Disney Imagineering – Disney Sponsored Khan Academy Course
Ensuring Connectivity – Phone and Internet Options during Coronavirus
There has been quick response to the concerns put forth by layoffs and business closings, many recurring bills have been paused for collection, credit reporting has been paused and many services have deferment and grace period options for you, be sure to review each individually to make budget decisions about how you spend your available funds.
Communication and internet connectivity are important options for coordinating efforts, staying in the know and staying sane and productive during restrictive times.
Spectrum – COVID-19 Educational Offer
60 Days free internet access with no installation fees or upfront costs. To enroll your household in this Spectrum offer call 1-844-488-8395.
Spectrum Free Internet Offer
If you have a student in the house, many internet and cellular data providers have created offers to extend free service to your household should you not have current internet accessibility and promised to not cancel existing customers accounts for payment issues.
This Includes: Altice, Cox, Comcast, AT&T, Sparklight and Mediacom
See the full list of signees here:
Resources For Displaced College Students
Uhaul
Many students in America were caught by surprise when their colleges were closed quickly and many were told to get off campus. With campuses closed and traditional part time jobs in local businesses closed, students without a family safety net to turn to could be seriously impacted.
As of March 12th, 2020, U-Haul is offering 30 Days of free storage for college students impacted by the closings, the availability is first come, first served basis. Any individual needing this service is encouraged to find the store nearest you with this Store Locator tool. Contact the store directly to arrange your service.
College Emergency Resources
Your college has contingency plans in place for assisting students. Many colleges and universities offer emergency funds and emergency loans and the student affairs department is equipped to assist in housing and emergency fund situations. Make sure you reach out to your school and explain your situation if you find yourself displaced, do not assume you have no options with the school.
Try simply searching your college or university name + “Emergency Loans” to get a handle on what your first steps are and definitely reach out to your Dean’s and faculty contacts.
The Student Relief Fund has been started to offer resources and assistance to students in need, contact them to begin your process of finding the best match for your situation
Free Ways To Stay Healthy and Fit During Coronavirus Quarantine
Health clubs, gyms and classes have been cancelled all across the nation, employees who once had jobs that kept them busy may become sedentary around their homes and the new surge of office workers working from remote locations may not have yet established the habits for activity that are required to maintain physical and mental health. Take the need for exercise and activity for your physical, mental and immune health seriously. Set a time to get active and whether your a disciplined gym-goer who will have no problem creating a calisthenics routine or someone who just recognizes the importance of your physical activity in the coming weeks, the following businesses have created online or at-home self paced opportunities to stay busy, take part in online classes or continue to follow dedicated routines. Stay Active!
Golds Gym
Hundreds of Workouts. Thousands of DJ Mixes. Expert Coaches.
Choose your coach, choose your workout, choose your music, and go
After filling out a very short registration form you will be brought to a page that will allow you to download the Gold’s Gym AMP from the Play or Apple store and is announced to be free until May 31, 2020.
Gold’s Gym AMPPlanet Fitness
Every day at 7 PM EST, Planet Fitness staff, trainers and some celebrities will be offering 20 minute workouts on the Planet Fitness Facebook page.
YMCA
The YMCA launched an online service with classes and videos called YMCA 360. It is free and open to everyone
Core Power Yoga
Core Power Yoga has released over 20 hour long yoga classes online at their On Demand page.
Free Remote Work Resources
Google has expanded it’s Google Suite services previously only available to Enterprise and Education level customers to all customers. This includes video chat and hangout message access. The gSuite is a full productivity application suite that includes everything the average business needs for remote work management and communication
This is my preferred remote suite but Google support is non-existent on free tiers, so another partner may be preferable for business critical remote operations
Zoom
Zoom has expanded it’s free tier to help businesses deal with the rapid move to remote work. As a leader in remote work and video conferencing, this is a very useful software to have available to you. In addition to remote work applications it can serve as a break from isolation and is used for remote mental counseling and therapy.
Click to learn more about more specialized service offers
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- CloudFlare Enhance and audit the security and speed of your remote operations
- PandaDoc Free Access to esign technology so you can continue signing deals, I use a sister software to this for normal operations
- Wrike Free 6 Month trial to Wrike Professional
- Support.com Free Tech Support for one month to remote workers (anyone)
- Zoho – We use Zoho for multiple custom CRM’s, their default UI is intuitive and very customizable, this remote offer is new, but is likely worth a demo if you do not have an existing crm or remote system
- Yext Answers This is another company whose tools I work with, but this tool is new and is structured well for this situation where you may have less phone support
Technology Companies that have pledged to assist small businesses tackle the change to remote work can be seen here:
Free Entertainment & Specials For The Quarantine
After an early close to the season, The Metropolitan offer has elected to stream their past performances for free each night. See their schedule. Perhaps you will discover a new love of Opera or can work into your homeschooling.
The Guggenheim is worth the visit to see it in real life, but while it is closed to visitors you can still experience a full virtual exhibit. If you dont know the Guggenheim by name, you will likely still recognize it as the backdrop of many movies.
Many exhibits and museums have created or released interactive or digital access to their holdings. This is a great time to review novel types of culture that don’t grow in petri dishes
List of Art Museums and Exhibits with Online Virtual Tours
