Sparky the Mask Ambassador by Keyi (Thea) Chang

Hello, I am Thea Chang and today is my birthday!

Since becoming 40 years old, this is the first time I looked forward to it. The reason being is that after my birthday, the difficult long Shelter in Place is about to come to an end per the Governor’s projection.

Beginning in June, we should be able to slowly resume our “new” normal life.

The deadly COVID -19 virus took the world by surprise in January of this year. The pandemic affected everyone, some have lost their jobs and others have lost their lives.

Shelter in Place was not easy for my family and I. Like many others, our income stopped. My husband was laid off and I lost all the contract projects.

For my two teenagers, my Senior high school son was emotionally and mentally impacted the most. He could not believe his high school life ended so abruptly and permanently!

As he told me, “It’s so sad that my prom and graduation ceremony are canceled. The worst part of it all is that I didn’t get a chance to say good bye to all my 2020 classmates.”

As bad as it sounds, I started to appreciate what we have and feel grateful that we can stay home together during SIP. What about the front line essential workers or the people who have no food or home?

No matter how difficult things have gotten, I believe having a positive attitude and helping each other are the ways to handle this stressful and depressing situation.

As a freelance reporter and program host for many years, besides following the nerve racking news everyday, I am curious to see for myself what’s going on in my city and community.

Thank goodness we have a dog! Since the beginning of SIP, I’ve been looking forward to my daily walk with our husky, name Sparky.

Walking and getting fresh air maintain my sense of sanity. I started to check up on my senior neighbors during my walk, mindful of the social distancing . This
brought me happiness and I became better acquainted with them. I brought them masks and they baked me cakes in return.

Although the economy is down and there is a shortage of medical supplies in the United States, our society is still filled with warm-hearted and selfless stories.

I often see Asian groups organize relief efforts and donations. These include donating medical masks, PPEs, and hand sanitizers. Many Chinese restaurants have also been providing hot lunches to hospitals’ medical personnel.

During weekly grocery shopping trips, I noticed many delivery workers, and restaurant and grocery staff are also in need of masks.

In these circumstances, where masks are in limited supply, a friend started ordering and distributing masks manufactured in Taiwan to donate to second-line essential workers.

Seeing Taiwan’s success in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, she started a fundraising for mask covers.

To use these, you can insert any of these three things inside: a dry baby wipe, a coffee filter (approved by the American CDC), or a surgical/non-surgical mask. Then, you only need to wash the mask cover and reuse the same mask multiply times because it’s protected by the cover. In addition, wipes and filters are also more accessible than masks.

Personally, I think mask covers are a great option, they are light weight and easy to dry. Thus, we can leave more surgical masks for front-line medical professionals.

I hope my video with Sparky will lighten up your day and surround you with positive energy!

The Above video is one of the entries from “In Time of COVID19 Video & Essay Contest”

We believe that the pandemic has generated a treasure trove of interesting stories, valuable and relevant contents about humanity in all its spectrums. Stories about generosity, heroism, kindness and outstanding services to fellow human beings on the other.

Ding Ding TV (Silicon Valley Innovation Channel and Voice of Asian Americans) , CLUSA  together with 16 partners presented “In Time of COVID19 Video & Essay Contest” bringing these stories to our community and simultaneously acknowledge and honor their creators.

The contestant should read and follow the Contest Rulers published on May 10th 2020 from following link:

http://www.dingdingtv.com/?p=57035 

The contestant acknowledge Rule 5, 6

5)    If background music and other visual, verbal and sound (reference) material are used from internet, the contestant must possess copyrights or have explicit permission to use such  material(s).

6)    By entering this contest, the contestants will have given DingDingTV and Contest Partners explicit permission to distribute the video widely on media channels, the internet and social media sites such as Youtube, Facebook, WhatApp, WeChat, twitter….etc.