Finding simple sources of comfort and ways to help have become standard orders of the day during COVID-19. These include things like finding the helpers (and being the helpers), giving of ourselves (and gift cards when we can) and staying safe (more to the point, staying home). Perhaps the silver lining to this incredibly challenging time will be a collective, newfound focus on resilience, solidarity and ingenuity. Remaining united and surfacing our unshakeable human spirit may well be the gifts that keep giving long after the health, social and economic pressures of COVID-19 have subsided. 

Helping Families and Communities Survive and Thrive 

The sage advice from Mr. Rogers, famed children’s television personality, would have us look for the helpers. It’s easy to find them. Just look for the drive-by parades through parking lots of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The outpouring of love, thanks and recognition to our homebound elders are amazing gifts, indeed.

Gift Cards Can Help You Make a Difference Today

If you’re searching for a way to give an affordable, meaningful gift to someone that can really use it, here are a few ideas to consider:

• Donate meals from local restaurants to feed healthcare workers through take-out or delivery services. The restaurant and your local economy will benefit, too. Here are a few restaurants to choose from (more at eGifter.com): Applebee’s gift cards, Outback gift cards (or any Bloomin’ Brand), Boston Market gift cards, Chili’s Bar and Grill gift cards, Doordash gift cards, Ruby Tuesday gift cards, Jersey Mike’s Subs gift cards, TGIFridays gift cards, or Uber Eats gift cards
• Find a local blood drive and donate much needed blood or platelets (search Red Cross locations)
• Drop off food at your local food pantry. If you can’t get there personally or want to contribute to a food donation center at a distant location, you can easily deliver groceries by sending them a Target gift card or Walmart gift card
• Encourage your local Chamber of Commerce to claim their FREE listing at OperationMainStreet.com. Doing so can have a dramatically positive impact on helping your local business community and their employees survive the economic downturn of COVID-19
• Send a gift card to purchase a vegetable garden — deliver the gift card by text or email . With both online and in-store redemption, Home Depot gift cards and Lowe’s gift cards let them purchase seeds and starter plants for vegetables and fruit that can actually feed a family
• Help them to help others! Donate fabric for masks by sending Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores gift card to the crafty people you know. The shortfall of masks for local businesses and healthcare locations can be built up with this grassroots effort.
• Call the seniors and singles in your life just to say hello. It may be the only friendly, personal voice they hear today.

Long live compassion and perseverance — the hidden gifts that have emerged from this historically significant time.

Please share your own story of optimism, healing and the human spirit. 

#egifter #somegoodnews #stayhome #googlesmallbusiness #operationmainstreet

While each of us does our part to stop the spread of COVID-19 by social distancing, life marches on! Birthdays and anniversaries simply cannot be cancelled or postponed. The earth still spins, the sun still rises and special gift giving occasions take place every day. The human spirit is being tested and people are coming through with flying colors. The vivid and countless examples of incredible creativity, heartwarming surprises and ways people are showing their love are inspiring. Here at eGifter.com, we are seeing an uptick in digital gift card deliveries by email and by text. We’re seeing the sandwich generation turn their elderly parents onto enjoying streaming tv gift cards. We’re seeing workers at organizations chipping in for group gifts to help feed children of co-workers who have fallen ill to the corona virus.  And we’re seeing parents making their children feel uber special on birthdays even when the party had to be cancelled. We are bolstered by the boundless human spirit exemplified by our customers. We are inspired to continue inventing new ways to help people celebrate life and take care of each other. 

In fact, at this very moment it is 7pm in my own suburban neighborhood here on Long Island. For the first time during this crisis, our local firehouse alarms are sounding. My neighbors are clapping and whoo-hooing. It’s a moving moment that underscores the entire point.

#humanspirit. #somegoodnews #stayhome #stayhealthy #egifterstories

A NYC couple says “I do” to the officiant overlooking from a balcony above

Family and friends shower birthday wishes on a newly minted 4-year old

The family shares a virtual anniversary toast to honor their parents’ 65th wedding anniversary

At a time like this when life is anything but normal, the tried and true solutions we enjoyed in the past are taking on a new meaning and importance. For decades, Americans have relied on takeout dinners, food delivery service and door to door grocery services. It’s no surprise that today, gift cards for those services are dramatically on the rise as people heed health and safety instructions. We have quickly diverted to protective measures like social distancing, home working, home schooling and staying connected to friends and family through technology. The spike in Doordash gift cards purchased at eGifter.com is a clear illustration of the new normal – delivery services are going to grow. Gift cards do not require any physical touch that could put a gift giver or recipient in harm’s way, as they can be sent from the comfort of home or while on the go — and received the same way — by mobile phone, desktop or paper. We at eGifter are fortunate to be in a business that can contribute to people across the country, helping them safely shop for food, meals and groceries for themselves and their loved ones, 24 x 7.

Businesses, Families and Neighbors are Sending DoorDash Gift Cards 

• We are seeing multitudes of companies purchasing DoorDash gift cards for workers and their families
• Family members located too far away to help are texting DoorDash gift cards to loved ones to make sure that a healthy, hot meal is on the table 
• Local citizens are gathering donations to purchase DoorDash egiftcards to feed first responders too busy to prepare a meal during their mega long shifts – delivery service at its best

We’re Also Seeing….

• Meal Delivery Services Like DoorDash staffing up with new drivers, establishing new best practices for food delivery to reduce in person contact, and announcing commission relief and marketing support for new and existing DoorDash partner restaurants
• Tenants in apartment buildings circulating checklists under doors and collecting them daily so that healthy, capable tenants can field their requests and provide the needed help
• Local business leaders stepping up, like our very own Theresa Sullivan, who has been gathering donations to purchase meals for healthcare workers at Huntington Hospital. The Huntington Hospital Meals Facebook Group is a model of citizens coming together to help one another. Not just that, they are keeping local restaurants going through their delivery service. Our local economy is getting a boost because of the work that Theresa is doing, with the help of the generous local community here in Suffolk County, Long Island.

Here’s a warm shout out to the finest, bravest, strongest and all the superheroes stepping forward to help others in cities and suburbs around the nation. If you’re among the majority that’s staying home, you’re a superhero too! Thanks for keeping yourself and others safe. Who are you staying home for? imstayinghomefor.

We find ourselves in an unprecedented situation. No doubt, we will rise to the occasion. Together.

Please share your uplifting stories with us at support.egifter.com.

#egifterstories #egifterhumanspirit