Tim Harvey, director of finance at Tape Craft Corporation, shares a heartfelt message about the importance of giving back in times of crisis.
I have the privilege of writing about YKK Fundamental Behavior #23 Give Back, due out in a couple months. However, recent events and changes to our lives and lifestyles related to COVID-19 pandemic has me thinking about the extraordinary opportunities we have to give back now.
Let me be clear. Do not do anything that puts you at risk of infection. Please take all necessary precautions to protect yourself and your family. What I am suggesting is as we go about your daily lives, consider some of the opportunities we have to bring benefit to others.
We all know people who are elderly or otherwise at risk during this time. People with at risk conditions feel even more isolated in times like these. Check on you friends. Call, let them know you care. When you are going to market for your family supplies, ask if there is anything they need you could pickup for them. Designate a safe drop off point, where you can maintain proper social distancing.
With schools closing and children now continuing their studies remotely at home, many parents are feeling overwhelmed as new “home-school” parents. Teachers, as well, will be overwhelmed with trying to meet the needs of their students remotely. Many of us have skills and interests in areas of mathematics, sciences, history and languages. What if we made ourselves available as tutors through facetime or online to help some friends parenting through these challenges?
Check on and encourage each other. In times like these, it is easy for us to fall into a routine of go to work, go home, isolate, rinse, repeat. etc. Before we realize we can feel lonely and isolated. FaceTime your friends. Hold a virtual watch party of a favorite show, a virtual book club or virtual party through Zoom. With the technology at our disposal, even quarantine and isolation does not have to mean solitary confinement.
Finally, let us remember these are stressful times. Whether we realize it or not, we are all stressed with the way a pandemic disrupts our daily lives. An extra measure of kindness and patience, with others and with ourselves, will go a long way toward making this better for all of us.
Fred Rogers, children’s television host from my childhood, said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary thi
ngs in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”
Now we’re the adults so maybe it’s our turn to be the helpers. We are all in this together.
YKK Family, we have an unprecedented opportunity to live out our fundamental behavior, to Give Back and to be the helpers that make this time better.
Tim Harvey
Director of Finance
Tape Craft Corporation
