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  2021-09-21

  Life During the Pandemic

  In March of 2020, I was sent home from Duquesne University due to the rising COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, I did not grasp the magnitude of the situation, but I quickly realized that the next year and a half were going to be rough. As soon as I got home, signed up for Door Dash to maintain steady income while most places were either closed or under heavy regulations. Personally, I was not concerned about contracting the virus myself, rather bring the virus home to my family. My sister worked on a COVID floor in a hospital, and I was working everyday around people as well. We were very cautious because my mother is immunocompromised, meaning her immune system is weaker than normal. If I were to bring the virus home to her, or anyone in my family, I would have felt terrible, so I was very cautious when I was working for Door Dash. I wore my mask everywhere I went, inside restaurant, outside while delivering food, everywhere. Also, during this time, I had to take care of my grandmother and great aunt as well. Both of them live very close to where I live, so I had to deliver groceries and medicine to them for a year and a half. That part was the most concerning. With both of them being over the age 65, being cautious was an understatement. After about a year od delivering food and such to them, the moment the vaccine was available, my family took the opportunity. I was the last to get the vaccine, as I was more worried about my family rather than myself. Living during COVID was not easy. The constant worry on if I had the virus if I had a slight cough or a sore throat was tiring. Constant stress was hanging over me and on top of that, school was not easy either. Online classes were tough, as I am very much an in-person learner, but at the end of the day, my family is all healthy and I am as well. COVID-19 was a challenge but being able to overcome those times was incredibly relieving.
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  2020-05-30

  The Dashathon

  When the pandemic quarantine was initially imposed, I found myself with lots of free time on my hands. After weeks of low motivation and extreme boredom, I decided to sign up as a food delivery driver for Doordash, a job that was in high demand at the time. By this point in quarantine, all restaurants were closed for indoor dining, but many were still offering carryout and delivery services, largely through food delivery apps such as Doordash. Some of my friends and I started driving Doordash as frequently as 5-6 nights a week. We strategically prioritized the 4 to 8 PM time-slot in order to cover the majority of the dinner shift. Although it was quite mindless work, it was one of the few things that I had to look forward to as a daily break from the monotonous isolation of quarantine. Orders were frequent and because of the high demand for delivery drivers and very light traffic, tips were generous and reflective of the community’s appreciation for service provided by “frontline workers” like ourselves. After about a month of driving, my friends and I decided to put together a fundraiser called “Dashathon” to support some of our favorite local restaurants and small businesses that were struggling during the pandemic. Because many smaller restaurants did not have the financial resources to operate at a loss during periods of the pandemic, many were forced to shut their doors. Our idea was to reach out to all of our family and friends and designate one night where all of our income and tips from Doordash would be donated to these struggling restaurants and other local charities in need. With lots of outreach, we secured underwriting from 10 different sponsors as well as a dollar-for-dollar match pledge from Doordash itself. Our Dashathon was even highlighted in a television news segment broadcast on the local Denver NBC-affiliate newscast (linked above). We were successful in recruiting over 40 drivers to participate in our event. Through a competition-style format that rewarded the highest earners with gift cards from our sponsors, we were able to raise $15,000 dollars in just four hours. The proceeds were distributed in their entirety to designated local restaurants and charities.