Helping Hands
UNO graduates pitch in during the pandemic
Signs of the Time
In Pamela Duncan’s case, the Maverick alum has literally provided helping hands. The 2016 graduate this spring was seen often on TV standing next to Nebraska state leaders and health experts who were addressing the public about the pandemic. Duncan did so as a sign language interpreter, communicating critical information for the hearing impaired.
Duncan has been signing for almost all her life — both her parents are deaf, as is a brother. She learned American Sign Language at home, but her UNO education gave her the credentials to sign as a professional.
Like many others, though, her occupation suffered because of COVID-19. With schools and businesses closed, she went from working 40 to 50 hours a week to about 10.
She found some work, at least, signing during live news conferences.
“You’re hearing a message, and then you are translating it and sending it out into a different language, and that utilizes both sides of your brain,” she said in a WOWT story. “Although our work is fascinating and it’s sometimes neat to look at, it’s very vital information.”
Nowhere To Go, But All Dressed Up
There is no shushing librarian Betsy Thomas (above) — even during a pandemic.
A 2012 UNO graduate, Thomas is librarian at Kooser Elementary in Lincoln, Nebraska. Students there love her, and it’s obvious why — she just might be the coolest librarian you’ve ever seen.
To stay connected with her kids from Kooser who were stuck at home, Thomas began recording videos of herself reading books and encouraging daily learning challenges — all while dressed in various costumes and incorporating a host of props.
Her “Kooser Kodiaks” videos posted to Facebook included herself dressed in a T-Rex costume on Dinosaur Day and posing as a farmer while reading to live chickens. Most segments were filmed in her basement using a green screen, though in one she drives a forklift in her husband’s empty warehouse.
NBC’s “TODAY” show featured the Maverick during a special series celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week.
“I just thought, ‘What can I do? I’m just sitting here at home,” Thomas said in the “TODAY” segment. “So I just made a quick little pirate video and then the ball kind of rolled out of control.”
Picture This
It didn’t take long for 2019 graduate Pamela Brodman to look beyond her front door to see how she might help others.
After about two weeks of quarantine, Brodman started giving back to her Texas community through a project of taking photos of her neighbors with their own families in front of their houses.
“While maintaining safe distance,” she makes sure to note, “to help them break the routine and to memorialize this historic event we are living through.”
Fighting on the Front Lines
Early in the fight against COVID-19, Washington state was on the front lines.
And among those leading the charge against the virus was 2012 UNO graduate Zed Zha (above, left), physician lead of the COVID-19 task force at Columbia Basin Health Association in eastern Washington.
Zha cared for patients, implemented policies to make sure staff and providers were safe, and educated the public about COVID-19 through frequent online video segments.
“We will not back down from the fight against COVID-19,” she wrote in a note to the UNO Alumni Association in March. “This is our fight now. Stay safe.”
A mathematics major at UNO, Zha was born and raised in Beijing, China, before moving to Omaha to earn her UNO degree. She then graduated from Dartmouth School of Medicine and completed her medical residency at the Mayo Clinic in Wisconsin.
She joined CBHA in October 2019. Just a few months later, COVID-19 hit.
Her own background gave Zha a unique voice to address the early backlash against Chinese-Americans.
“I am proud to say that despite the fact that many Chinese people have faced discrimination throughout this, as Chinese or Chinese American physicians, we have not backed down from the global fight. Thousands of us are at the front line in the U.S., and many Chinese physicians arrived in Italy to help them with their fight. We rely on Chinese researcher’s data each and every day. Being divided is bad for humanity.”
Mapping the Way
For those in New York who didn’t know where to turn for help during the pandemic, 1996 UNO graduate Mike Messerly was there to point them in the right direction.
Literally.
A publisher of two western New York newspapers, Messerly created a community support map using Google Maps to provide people in the area a resource to find a variety of support services.
“I created numerous layers to the map, such as Child Food Distribution, Community Medical Support resources, Area Food Pantries, Locations for Blood Drives, a Support Organization for the Homeless, Domestic Violence Hotlines, video updates from federal and state health officials and the New York Governor’s Office and finally Small Business Resource organizations.
Within just a few weeks from its launch in mid-March, the map had more than 1.4 million views; by the end of May it had nearly 5 million views. Twice it was cited by the Poynter Institute for innovative developments by a local news organization.
Helping in the present also has Messerly planning for the future.
“Following the crisis,” he writes, “I plan to continue to use the map as a continuing community resource for the area’s citizens in their times of need.”
He says his education at UNO has been key in helping him create the map.
“It is my time and experiences in the UNO School of Communications that have brought me to where I am today. I’m damn proud to be a Maverick in innovative ways to provide people with information needed to bring any form of comfort and relief to their lives.”
Masking the Problem
Zhili Zou had plenty of pandemic-related concern to contend with living in Shanghai, China.
But her concern — and care — extended half a world away to her former professors at UNO.
A 2017 graduate, Zou in April contacted UNO Professors Harmon Maher and Robert Shuster to say she was mailing them surgical masks. The two faculty members were instrumental in helping Zou earn her degree in environmental science.
“At that time. I was alone in Shanghai and felt very anxious and panicked in the first few weeks,” she wrote to the UNO Alumni Association. “After the outbreak of the epidemic in all parts of the world, I began to worry about the people in the places short of medical resources.” Her thoughts turned especially to Omaha.
“Omaha is my second hometown. I have a lot of beautiful memories and wonderful friends there, especially Professors Maher and Shuster,” she wrote. “They were very supportive of me throughout my undergraduate studies. It was their patience and support that I could finally overcome my obstacles and be able to graduate on time.”
When the package arrived, Shuster opened it to find 400 surgical masks. Those were donated to the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
Zou collected the masks from various sources: individuals in her community who received 10 per person; other Chinese “who were busy collecting and donating masks for people in other countries on the front line;” and companies that contributed to the cause.
Knowing that the masks she sent to Omaha were donated to UNMC “deeply moved” her.
“In the past three months, our every effort reaped greater kindness, and everyone we helped was eager to help more people,” she wrote. “I feel lucky to live in a world that everyone I know, regardless of institution, country or race, are using their own ways to take care of each other. This unforgettable experience makes me cherish everything in front of me more and have more patience and kindness to everyone that I meet. I’m full of confidence and hope for the future.”
Helpful Spirits
How do you help the hands that help others? Ed Pechar is doing so by churning out hand sanitizer.
Lots of it.
A 1963 UNO graduate, Pechar is chairman and principal owner of McCormick Distilling Company founded in 1856 in Weston, Missouri — the oldest business in the Kansas City area. With the outbreak of COVID-19, Pechar directed his company to turn from production of spirits to production of sanitizer, helping meet the needs of Kansas City-area health care facilities and first responders.
“We want to do our part, and we have the capacity to do our part,” Pechar said. “Our entire team has been focused on the logistics of production and distribution of hand sanitizer within the evolving guidelines from the FDA.”
The company began by converting a still used to produce high-proof alcohol. McCormick’s first production run under its Holladay Distillery label resulted in nearly 10,000 gallons of its “Helping Hands” sanitizer. It was distributed in 15,000 1.75-liter bottles through partnership with relief organization Heart to Heart International. Another 48,000 200 milliliter bottles were sold to consumers, the profits used to fund continued production of sanitizer.
Following another production run, Pechar had numerous bottles of Helping Hands shipped to the University of Nebraska Medical Center.
It’s not the first instance of Pechar putting others first. A 2019 recipient of the UNO Alumni Association’s highest honor, the Citation for Alumni Achievement, Pechar quietly contributes to numerous philanthropic causes. That includes the Edward A. Pechar Scholarship Fund, which offers full-tuition assistance for UNO students who need financial assistance to attend college though ineligible for Pell grants. He established the fund through the University of Nebraska Foundation.
Now, he’s giving numerous others a hand.
“This is a true national emergency, an unprecedented event in any of our lifetimes,” Pechar said. “Each and every one of us who are in a position to help should be asking ourselves what we can do to contribute.”