How An Artist, A Toy Maker, A College Student Use Their Skills To Fight The Pandemic

Last month, we asked our audience: What are some of the inventive ways that people are addressing COVID-19 challenges in their community?

Dozens of NPR readers wrote in with nominees. Many are people who have found ways to put their special skills and talents to good use. A former toy maker, laid off from his job, is putting on puppet shows in his living room window for passersby. An artist set up a socially distant art gallery in her backyard. Two siblings are helping local businesses provide low-cost meals to immigrant families in need.

Here are six profiles of volunteers who are making a difference.

Virtual classes fight free time and boredom

In the weeks after March 25, when India announced a nationwide lockdown to battle the coronavirus pandemic, Perpetual Nazareth, an English teacher at Don Bosco High School in Mumbai, was flooded with calls from teenage students who were bored and listless.

Although the school had pivoted to online classes, "I could tell that it was a tough time for them and for parents too," she says. When Nazareth wondered how she could help, Joshua Salins, a former student, offered a suggestion: why not teach them new hobbies?

Salins had already established a a small business called in October 2019 to make it cheaper and easier for people to pursue the kinds of activities that he himself enjoys — singing, making art and playing music. "We would rent a place, hire teachers and gather people who wanted to learn something new," he says. At first, the group