World Vision, Wheaton College Mark National COVID-19 Day with Website Launch
World Vision and the Humanitarian Disaster Institute at Wheaton College have declared March 11, the one-year anniversary since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic, as National COVID-19 Day.
It’s a time for people to “navigate our collective grief, encourage one another, and embrace hope for what is ahead,” the organizations said.
To help them do that, HDI and World Vision, along with volunteer management nonprofit VOMO, the National Association of Social Workers, and other nonprofit, grassroot, and corporate partners, have launched an online platform at nationalcovid19day.com where people can share their grief, come together virtually or volunteer.
“With the United States recently surpassing 500,000 COVID-19 related deaths, our country needs ways to come together virtually and safely to remind us that we are not alone and that we will eventually overcome this pandemic,” said HDI co-director Jamie Aten.
To remember those who have died from COVID-19, HDI and World Vision encourage all Americans to observe a moment of silence on March 11.
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Through the platform, people can volunteer to help organizations responding to COVID-19 in 14 major U.S. cities as well as online and send thank-you videos to encourage frontline workers, family, and friends who have made a positive difference in their lives and communities.
“Our hearts are broken by this national tragedy. But we ‘do not grieve as others do who have no hope’ (1 Thess. 4:13), so we also affirm the ways God worked through His people and their acts of generosity to save many lives,” said Edgar Sandoval, president and CEO of World Vision U.S.
People can get free virtual emotional support through the platform via 7 Cups, Inspire’s Coronavirus (COVID-19) Support Group and Discussion Community, Long-Haulers Discussion Group, and the National Association of Social Worker’s Help Starts Here.
The website also offers free resources from Harvard University’s Human Flourishing Program, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, Healthcare Ready, RAND, and The Pandemic Grief Project.
