What You Need To Know: Positive Stories Among Coronavirus

Georgia Public Broadcasting’s new series What You Need To Know: Coronavirus provides succinct, fact-based information to help you get through the coronavirus pandemic with your health and sanity intact. 

Daryn Kagan from DarynKagan.com is using her website to spread good news in Georgia and all across the nation during the coronavirus outbreak. She talks about the importance of positive news at this time with GPB News's Donna Lowry.

Naturally, you have a wonderful website, darynkagan.com, which focuses on positive and uplifting news and I love that. We need it right now.

Thank you. We do. I think, you know, we need all the time, but especially in challenging times. That actually is when my website traffic goes up the most. So I've been very busy. 

I bet you have. I noticed. We're going to talk about your Georgia-based stories. What about a family that created a website to help thank healthcare workers and keep restaurant workers in business? Tell us all about themealbridge.com.

You know, it seems so simple. It's just one of those examples. We all do this. And this is a family in the Druid Hills area who, about a little over a week ago, said there should be a way to help restaurants who are hurting and thank healthcare workers. So they created themealbridge.com and it allows you to go on. It has a list of different staff of different hospitals that you can feed and the list of restaurants and you pick. You say, "Oh, I'm going to buy lunch for five at Emory or dinner for 20 at this other hospital." It's a really simple way to give back to health workers to say thank you for their important work. And also much needed business for restaurants right now.

I love that. And what you said is that there's a teenage daughter involved in this and thought she was just home from school, right? 

Yeah, well, like all teenagers across Atlanta, their school's out. Gray Cohen is her name. She's 16 years old. This family actually was situated perfectly to create this. The dad runs an advertising agency, the mom is a speech pathologist at Emory. So they had an in into a hospital. They had the right skills to get this up really quickly. And then there's Gray Cohen, 16 years old, with not a lot of class time. She is the one who is actually running this website and doing a phenomenal job. 

I love that. And she didn't realize she had the skill set I bet until all this came up. 

I asked her, "Does it feel a little bit different than being in class without reading all these books?" And she said, "I would have never predicted this would be my life a couple weeks ago." But then I guess we can all say that, right?

Let's talk about the plane with healthcare workers because you have another story on a planeload of healthcare workers who headed to New York City? Tell us about it.

There's a photo that's gone viral that just kind of warms your heart just to see it. It's a shot of a Southwest plane at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport completely filled with medical workers who were going from Atlanta up to New York to be on the frontlines of the coronavirus fight. And they're often making a big heart because, literally, they are bringing their hearts up to New York to help out. I love the people that are helping. I also love Southwest Airlines. And then to give a shout out to our hometown airline of Delta Air Lines. I also have included in that story Delta is offering to fly healthcare workers for free to different hotspots around the country so they can situate themselves to be able to help and be on the frontlines of the fight.

It's wonderful that they're bringing out this is all bringing out some really good things in all of us. 

I think. Yeah, it really is. It really is.

And the other story I want to talk about, which is Georgia based, and that is former President Jimmy Carter. I love the line into your story. You said former President Jimmy Carter doesn't want your money.

Yeah, that would get your attention, right? Of course. Mr. and Mrs. Carter attached to the Carter Center right in the middle of Atlanta. About a week ago, the Carter Center sent out a letter signed by the former president, by Mrs. Carter and by Jason Carter — their grandson who runs the center — now saying to other top donors, "Do not send us your money." Now, what nonprofit says "Don't send us your money?" But instead, they're asking donors to redirect the funds that they would be donating to the Carter Center to other organizations that are fighting the coronavirus pandemic right now. 

I love that. And it's just a matter of going online and being able to do it. It's a good thing we're in a mode these days of not exactly exchanging money. So people have ways of doing that now. 

Exactly. Cash, what's that, right? Yeah. 

I'm actually doing that with my Girl Scouts right now. We're trying to sell some cookies. Daryn, I love what you're doing. 

Thank you. I hope people will stop by DarynKagan.com. I'm posting stories all day long.