COVID-19 Updates and Announcements
Hey everyone,
I hope you all are doing fine. The past 72 hours have been very rough and tough and has taken a toll on my mental health. The COVID-19 crisis has been escalating worldwide and has affected every individual on this planet directly or in-directly. Being a student with a strong spirit of entrepreneurship in me, I believe we should stand united at this tough time and help people by being compassionate. With that said, I have some updates and announcements that I want to share in this post.
Updates:
Kent State University, the university where I am currently a student at has announced that the spring semester will be entirely online and remote and that every student is strongly encouraged to move-out from their dorms, hours after the first few cases of the corona virus were detected in Ohio and most of the cases were in the Northeast Ohio Region, where Kent State University is. I have moved out and currently staying in my friend’s house in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The situation is unpredictable at the moment and there is nothing much that I can say about the future.
Announcements:
Mission Sukh, where I house my social impact and humanitarian projects, is working on helping out students or anyone to cope up with any mental health problems that have arisen due to the COVID-19 crisis. I have made this decision after several universities have closed down their campuses making the semester entirely online and asking students to move out from their dorms. After speaking to several students, I found out that this had taken a toll on them especially seniors who will be missing the last few months of their college life and international students, who have nowhere to go. People can join the Mission Sukh Discord server and can talk about their problems and then can sign up to talk to people on Zoom. This is in the early phase and there are more things I intend to do to combat the mental health problems created by the corona virus pandemic.
Flashmates is a project that I intended to launch this semester and help students to find off-campus housing in an efficient way. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, this has been stalled and I cannot make plans as the situation is uncertain. But that definitely won’t stop me from solving a major problem that has been caused due to the COVID-19 outbreak. After universities asked the students to move out from their campus, this made it hard for students especially international students or anyone who is in a situation where they cannot move out. I have decided that through Flashmates, I will be helping students find housing that is free or affordable and is being offered by an individual or organization to help the stranded students. The platform will be totally free and no one will be charged in the process. In times of difficulty or a crisis, compassion matters more than money. If anyone reading is or knows someone is ready to offer housing for stranded students, then please do leave me a mail at ashenava@kent.edu.
I am working on more solutions to the crisis and will be updating it on my Twitter and here in my newsletter. I am requesting everyone reading this to please stay at home and to follow sanitary and hygiene pre-cautions. Most importantly, please don’t panic and verify your sources and information online. Please stay safe and more announcements coming to you shortly. As a human being, I commit myself to help people and to solve problems caused by COVID-19. Let us all set aside our identity parameters and unite in this tough time and do whatever we can to help people. CLEAN YOUR HANDS, STAY HOME AND STAY SAFE.