BALTIMORE (WMAR) — "It makes our days off so much more worthwhile than just sitting at home," said nurse Lauren Bickel.
In between high stress shifts at D.C. area hospitals, Natalie Crawford and Lauren Bickel are using their time to make even more of an impact during this pandemic.
"It gives us a lot of purpose, a lot of fulfillment and joy," said Crawford.
After receiving lots of love and support from family and friends for their role as health care workers, they wanted to pay it forward.
"We know how good it made us feel. We just wanted to make sure that everybody was feeling that love too," said Bickel.
They decided to start raising money to support other front line workers in the DMV area. So far they’ve donated about 500 meals and care packages.
"We’re trying to do deliveries to day shift, night shift, weekend shift workers, the fire departments and the nursing homes which have been hit so hard," said Crawford.
They call it a win-win. The food and care packages come from local businesses and restaurants that are struggling.
"It’s been wonderful to just know that we are doing something for them too because they’re on the frontlines as well and they’re getting hit so hard," said Bickel.
Even though they’ve surpassed their fundraising goal, they’re still collecting donations on their GoFundMe page to keep it going.
"COVID-19 is apparently not going anywhere anytime soon and neither are we. We are here to help the frontline workers that continue to care for these patients," said Crawford.
"As long as we’re getting donations we’ll continue to be doing this," said Bickel.
You can nominate a front line worker or small business to be part of their effort by e-mailing them at dmvfrontline1@gmail.com.
