Even if you or your family’s health hasn’t been directly impacted by COVID-19, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the 24/7 newscycle about dire health consequences and economic impacts as a result of the pandemic. When so much of what’s happening seems unfamiliar and unpredictable, it’s almost impossible not to worry about what you don’t have–whether it’s as serious as job security or as simple as hand sanitizer.
But, when was the last time you took a step back and thought about what you do have?
At Crunchbase, we understand that we’re in a very fortunate position. As a SaaS company, we have been able to work remotely and adapt our company goals to respond to the constantly changing circumstances.
We’ve been inspired by the individuals and companies in our community that are using their resources to make a difference, and asked ourselves: “What can we do to help?”
Enter: COVID-19 Hack Day
Last Thursday, our teams put aside their normal work assignments and participated in a “COVID-19 Hack Day”–dedicated to using whatever resources we could get our hands on to help.
Prior to the hack day, we opened up a Slack channel dedicated to sharing creative ideas about how to help, then when the day came we broke out into teams to accomplish these tasks.
From creating geo-specific COVID-19 data dashboards to scraping the web to compile a list of companies currently hiring to developing a web app to find local stores with hot commodities, mask-making and even virtual volunteering, our teams came together to create some incredible projects to share and give back.
While not every project will come to complete fruition and some of our in-product projects are still in development, here’s a look at some of the amazing projects our teams came together to create:
- A Folding@Home Team to Power the Vaccine Search for COVID-19
- Sewing Homemade Masks for the Community
- Building a Geo-Specific COVID-19 Data Dashboard
There were also some non-COVID-related volunteer efforts for those who wanted a little break from COVID-19:
- Virtual Volunteering via Zooniverse: Counting Penguins
Of course, teamwork looks a little different these days. Here’s one of our teams meeting to discuss their project via Zoom:
While there are plenty of things to be worried about right now, it was incredibly refreshing to spend the day thinking about what we can do to help. As we all continue to navigate this seemingly never-ending, scary time, we hope to continue to see our communities come together to support one another.
From all of us here at Crunchbase, stay safe and go count some penguins.
