Hawaiian Airlines flights are usually packed with tourists looking for an island getaway. Since the coronavirus pandemic has halted all non-essential travel, the airline is giving free flights to medical workers on neighbour islands for the month of April. This is to support travel associated with COVID-19 response efforts. The airline is also partnering with Hawai'i's leading healthcare providers to maintain and facilitate the delivery of critical medical services to communities statewide. Since the 4th of April, Hawaiian has provided 16 daily roundtrip flights between the islands to those who need to travel for essential work or needs.

The real heroes during this pandemic are the doctors and nurses treating patients. They are risking their lives every day to ensure our safety and health. Every day, medical staff around the world are required to wear personal protective equipment such as masks to keep themselves safe, which looks daunting and somewhat fearful. To put patients at ease, the workers are wearing photos of themselves smiling, along with their name so patients can see a reassuring and comforting smile. 

Alaia Belize—Marriotts first hotel in Belize—and Andrew Ashcroft, are taking the lead on humanitarian work to support Belize by donating and raising over $60,000 (BZE) to transform a school into a hospital on Ambergris Caye. Ashcroft has also kept his staff employed at Banyan Bay Suites, Grand Colony Villas and Alaia Belize to ensure they’re supported financially and are able to receive medical benefits. If that wasn’t enough, his father, Lord Ashcroft has donated $10 Million (BZE) to help Belize overcome the pandemic. 

VisitLEX and Keeneland (the famed race track where Derby qualifying races usually take place) have teamed up with non-profit community kitchen FoodChain to launch Nourish Lexington—an initiative supporting the local hospitality industry by hiring displaced restaurant workers to cook fresh, healthy food for locals and their families. Keeneland has already donated 1,500 pounds of dry goods (which had been previously ordered for their recently cancelled spring race meet) to FoodChain. The model was created with the hope that it can be lifted and rolled out at other restaurants—both locally and nationally—in the future. 

Nursing homes are one of the facilities at most risk in this pandemic, but that hasn’t stopped them from reaching out to the world in a positive way. The Lexington Retirement Community sang “My Old Kentucky Home” from their balconies in the hopes of lifting spirits in the community. The Commons on St. Anthony in Auburn, New York also maintained positive during this time with a message of ‘strength,’ which was displayed on the windows of the elderly care facility. As the most vulnerable populations are restricted from outside visitors, they are demonstrating hope and spreading positivity across the community.