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Please Schedule Your appointment to give blood at a Vitalant location nearby. Dr. Peter Marks from the Food and Drug Administration has stated: “We need people to start turning out in force to give blood.” If you are healthy, please give blood. While agencies are advising people to avoid “gatherings” blood donation operations—at blood drives and donation centers—are not gatherings but essential health care activities. Not having enough blood to meet basic patient needs will cause another...

In response to recent events, Expensify.org, is shifting focus (and funds) with immediate effect to help supporting families in the US that may be struggling to support themselves right now. If you have a needy client struggling because of not being able to work, please share the information below about how to get their CalFresh benefits matched up to $50/family. These are unprecedented times, and it's inspiring to see communities rising to the challenge. However, not everyone has the...

Here in the U.S., millions of families are dealing with school closures. The number of students around the world whose education has been interrupted by the coronavirus is approaching 400 million, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. As closed schools ramp up for online learning, we can retool in our families, too. Here are three practical ways families can cope—and even thrive—despite school closures, event cancellations, and a whole lot more...

By Richard Louv, Children & Nature Network, March 16, 2020 If the coronavirus spreads at the rate that experts believe it will, schools, workplaces and businesses will continue to close. Here’s a thread of silver lining. We’ll have more time for each other and nature. And, at least so far, nature’s always open. Getting outside — but at a safe distance from other people — can be one way to boost your family’s resilience. If you spend too much time indoors, “your vitamin D level goes...

Teaching children how to better navigate crisis, right now.

I just started tuning in to the Ten Percent Happier Live daily meditations and discussions. They are streamed on at 3 PM EST on YouTube. I like them because they help me feel o.k. about feeling anxious and offer me a way to get settled. Anyhow, I'm glad to know they also have a podcast about Parenting in a Pandemic which I'm just about to listen to. In case you are interested, here's some information on that from the Ten Percent Happier website.

On March 18, the Yolo County Public Health Officer issued a countywide health order for residents to shelter in place from March 19 through April 7, unless extended by the Public Health Officer. This order limits activity, travel and business functions to only the most essential needs and is intended to slow the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19), protect those most vulnerable to the disease, and preserve local healthcare capacity. Shelter in place is a term used in emergency...

As children grow and develop, engaging with the larger community around them provides a sense of “mattering” — a sense that their participation in the community really does matter. The emergency conditions now in effect provide numerous opportunities to children and teens to pitch in. Here are a few ideas . . .

By Tom Gerken, British Broadcasting Corporation, March 16, 2020 More than 35 Facebook groups have been set up in 72 hours to serve communities in places including Ottawa, Halifax and Annapolis County in Nova Scotia, with more than 30,000 members between them. People are joining the groups to offer help to others within their communities, particularly those who are more at risk of health complications related to coronavirus. The pandemic has led to acts of kindness around the world, from...

We have an abundance of helpful links and posts swirling online to support families and school systems as we adjust to our new normal of learning while self-isolating at home. Thousands of free academic resources from the NYT student writing prompts, to the Anti-Racist, Anti-Oppressive Homeschool Resource list, to this excellent collection from BuzzFeed, and the ever-growing crowd-sourced collection aptly named Amazing Educational Resources are being shared. Our schools do so much more than...

Just for Kids: A Comic Exploring the New Coronavirus from NPR modified for Scarlett Middle School: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=x2EiBzCnn8U& feature=youtu.be Love in the time of Coronavirus: HOPE-informed thoughts for parents: https://www. acesconnection.com/blog/love- in-the-time-of-coronavirus- hope-informed-thoughts-for- parents Latest guidance from Gov Newsom on COVID-19 and how the ACEsConnection community will be handling COVID-19: https://www. acesconnection.com/g/...

I have some important information on food resources. Yolo Food Bank is doing all that we can to continue serving the community, and we are still distributing food at most of our sites. Here is the link to our website's Find Food page: https://yolofoodbank. org/get-help/ . Yolo Food Bank is now offering food box delivery to seniors, those with disabilities, and those with health conditions which increase risk of coronavirus illness. To sign up for a box delivered to their home, folks can call...