I'm Donna Lowry, host of Lawmakers on GPB
with your 'What You Need To Know Coronavirus," web series.
In this episode we're going to appreciate and applaud the good things
taking place in the midst of this global pandemic.
And joining me is the person who is all about that,
Daryn Kagan. Hi Daryn!
Donna so good to be with you.
You have a wonderful website, Daryn Kagan.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 it all the time but
especially in challenging times that's actually 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 okay?
This is 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,
there should be a- right?
And this is a family in the Druid Hills area who about
just a little over a week ago said, there should be
a way to help restaurants who are hurting and thank health carers- health care workers.
So they created TheMealBridge.com, and it allows you to go on and it has a
list of different staff's of
different hospitals that you can feed.
And then a list of restaurants and you pick.
You say oh I'm going to buy lunch for five at Emory.
Or dinner for twenty at this other hospital, and
a really simple way to give back to healthcare workers, say
thank you for their important work and also much
needed business for restaurants right now.
I love that and what you said is there's a teenage daughter involved in this,
who thought she was just home from school right?
Yea, well you know like all the teenagers across Atlanta their school's out.
Grey Cohan, she's 16 years old
and this family actually was situated
perfectly to create this, the dad owns
an advertising agency, the mom is a speech pathologists at Emory.
So they had an in into a hospital,
they had the right skills to get this up really quickly,
and then theirs Grey Cohen, 16 years-old with a
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 really didn't realize she had the skillset, I bet until all this came up.
No, I asked her, I said oh it's a little bit different than being in class and reading all those 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?
Yea, and the healthcare workers are benefiting.
Let's talk about - stay with healthcare workers because you have another story on
a whole plane load of healthcare workers who headed
to New York City, tell us about it.
Yea, there's a photo that's gone viral
that just- oh it just kind of warms your heart just to see it
it's a shot of Southwest plane out
at Hartsfield Jackson Airport completely filled with
medical workers who are going from Atlanta to
out to New York to be on the frontlines of the coronavirus fight.
And they're all sitting there making a big heart-
because literally they're all 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 shoutout to our hometown airline
of Delta airlines.
I also have included in that story, Delta is offering to fly
healthcare workers for free
to different hot spots 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.
Yea, it really is, it really is.
Yea, and the other story we 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.
Yea, that'll 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 all their top donors, do not
send us your money. Now what non-profit
says don't send us your money? But instead
they're asking donors to re-direct 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?
Yea, 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.
Yea, I love what you're doing.
Thank you.
Well, I hope people will stop by DarynKagan.com.
I'm posting stories all day long, really-
since I launched the website a number of years ago this has been the busiest
I've ever been. There is so much good going on
that I love that it's my job to share it with the world.
I'm glad that you're doing it and it just feels like
a place that everybody should go at least once or twice a
day to hear something, read something uplifting
about what's going on right now, we need it.
We need it, and by the way most of my
story ideas come from people who visit the website so if you
have a great story idea, you can just ping me on Facebook,
Instagram or just on the website there's a contact
button. I'd love to hear the good
that people see out there right now.
And there's a lot of it going on. Daryn Kagan, of DarynKagan.com,
thank you so much for joining us, and we love what you're doing just keep up the positivity.
Thank you, I'm going to have to reach out for some of those Girl Scout cookies though Donna.
Oh absolutely, they're yours, yea.
Okay, bye bye.