Two days ago I had the pleasure of running into three people handing out food and water to those in need. After stoping and talking for a minute, I learned that they were medical students from Florida State University who are in Orlando for their residence.
Me: “So, tell me about what you’re doing right now.”
Vinita: “So this is a birthday thing [where I’m] trying to just give back. Usually a birthday is just your day but at the same time, I’ve been given so much in life, I’d rather give back today than have today necessarily be about me. So, we made some bagged lunches and we’re trying to give them out to whoever needed a lunch today. We were surprised at how fast it went.”
Me: “Are there any people in particular you’re trying to give them out to?”
Vinita: “Just anyone who needs it. We don’t judge, whoever wants one, by all means. They ask and we give it.”
Gabby: “I think one of the things, especially with the project we had before, the CoronaKindness project, we find just in general that this is a really stressful time. Everyone knows this is a really stressful time, it’s obvious, you can see it on the news. We’re in a bad situation, and I think being at home stressed makes it worse, you know? And there’s a lot of things we don’t have control over, but we do have control over our own actions and coming up with simple solutions to take actions to try and better our own communities. And it can be really the simplest thing like we’re doing right now where it’s not really a big deal. But also in a way kindness is almost selfish, but a good selfish, because when you do good things you feel good…You know, [for her birthday] we were trying to figure out do we go putt-putt, do we do this or that; but this is so much better in that we get to be out in the community, see who’s around and help in just a little way and so I can go home and feel a little less stressed because I can think, ‘okay I did something today, I did my part.’ It helps.“
Vinita: “I think the most interesting part of today too was that while we were handing out bagged lunches, someone just gave us 20 dollars and said, ‘just a donation because you guys are doing good.’ So it’s just the idea that kindness breeds kindness. [Now] we’re trying to figure out how to pay that 20 dollars forward. Do we just hand out money to people, or make more lunches, how do we help? That warmed my heart to see that as well.”
Gabby: “And I think too, when we got here we weren’t sure where to go, but when we got here we found one person who told us where the other people were, who told us where the other people were. So it’s like a community within a community.”
JC: “I think a lot of times we separate ourselves from people who may be struggling. We mentally separate. And I think having these times to interact as human beings, it really shows how compassionate people really are. The fact that one of the guys out here might not have anything, but he still wanted to make sure to tell us like, ‘Hey, make sure my friends are fed, make sure you take care of them too.’ It’s always good to see human compassion at its core. And as medical students, in our first two years we don’t get to have much patient interaction, and even in the hospital sometimes you don’t get to know the full patient. So I think seeing people for who they are and seeing them in their natural place really opens your mind to a lot of things.”
After talking with the trio some more, Vinita and Gabby told me that they had their own COVID-related project called CoronaKindness. You can find them on Twitter @CoVKindnessProj and their website (kindness-amid-coronavirus.com).
-JC, Gabby, Vinita (Lake Eola, Florida)
