A new project proves that social distancing does not mean being socially distant
If you remember the elusively bedraggled homeless character of the ’70s that inspired one of the greatest rock anthems of all time, you have probably reached my age. Congratulations. Back then Jethro Tull’s “Aqualung” conjured up more desperate isolationism than Eleanor Rigby, and cast a tattered shadow that nearly obscured Black Sabbath’s ode to the apocalypse, “Iron Man.” “Aqualung” was the embodiment of the homeless back in the ’70s: crazy, disconnected, obscene. According to Jethro Tull founder and flautist/frontman Ian Anderson, “Aqualung” was “a guilt-ridden song of confusion about our reaction of guilt, distaste, awkwardness and confusion, all these things that we feel when we’re confronted with the reality of the homeless.”
Had we known then what we know now about the homeless, “Aqualung” may have foretold today’s homeless situation — a crisis that inspired me to found the nonprofit organization The Man/Kind Project in 2016. It’s no wonder that I reached out to the co-writer of “Aqualung” to enlist his help to provide care to the homeless during the COVID-19 pandemic? “Good luck with that,” a member of my board of directors told me. “You’d have more luck prying Hendrix’s Stratocaster from his cold dead fingers.”
Well, not according to a recently released video from The Man/Kind Project that leverages Anderson’s music and voice to raise funds for #CovidKindness care bags for the homeless, the elderly and others whose lives have been derailed by the pandemic. Within an hour of pitching Ian via his son James, we had a recorded voiceover of another Anderson tune, “Crash Barrier Waltzer,” that has gone viral and attracted major players in the entertainment business to our cause.
Ian would be proud that his work has resurfaced in the guise of a kinder, gentler version song that speaks of pour souls with “no bed, no bread nor butter.” It’s a heart-wrenching ode to empathy where power chords are replaced by lilting strings and woodwinds.
“In a crisis, it’s tempting to build a wall around your family and just hang on,” said writer and producer Billy Ray, praising any effort “to look outward, to help more people, to expand the scope of this magnificent operation even though doing so is truly perilous and dangerous.”
Billy may have been referring to the part of the video where we are literally in the street, masked and gloved like characters relegated to the cutting room floor of a Tarantino grindhouse film, tending to the homeless. We go to where they are, and don’t force them to wait on lines for sustenance. The empty streets ridding them of the opportunity for hand-outs from passers-by.
Even Hollywood’s Rabbi, David Baron, offered words of inspiration: “During this stressful time, stepping outside of yourself and helping others is actually a resilience mechanism that helps the giver as much or more than the recipient.” The smiles and “God bless you’s” that we get from our homeless brothers and sisters is payment in full.
Now they are the focus of a campaign of care. People like songwriter Ray, Rabbi Baron, Mike Stoller and harpist Corky Hale, TV actor and activist Anne-Marie Johnson and producer-philanthropist Peter Samuelson have reminded us that social distancing does not mean being socially distant.
Watch the Man/Kind Project video above.
These Celebrities Reached Into Their Pockets to Help Us Get Through the Pandemic (Photos)
As the number of people sickened by COVID-19 continues to rise, there is certainly no shortage of kind acts from people helping others get through the pandemic. And that includes celebrities and Hollywood artists social distancing like the rest of us. These famous do-gooders are reaching into their own pockets to make life under quarantine just a little bit easier.
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Oprah Winfrey announced on social media that she is donating $10 million to relief efforts, with $1 million of that specifically helping people who are struggling to buy food during the pandemic.
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Rihanna’s charitable organization Clara Lionel Foundation made a commitment of $5 million that will go to U.S. food banks as well as to helping advance testing in at-risk communities both in the U.S. and in Haiti and Malawi. The foundation — along with Twitter’s Jack Dorsey — also partnered with the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles and committed $2.1 million toward shelter, meals and counseling for victims of domestic violence. The fund, combined with Dorsey’s contribution, totals $4.2 million.
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10-time Grammy-winner Taylor Swift has been quietly contacting people on social media who have said they’ve been struggling to pay bills during the pandemic. Those users then shared screenshots of Swift making donations to them of several thousand dollars each.
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TV host Kelly Ripa and husand Mark Consuelos donated $1 million to both the New York governor’s office, for the purchase of ventilators, and WIN, a New York-based organization that provides shelters to homeless women and children.
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Writer Roxane Gay has tweeted several times during the pandemic asking for those struggling to pay bills during the pandemic to share their mobile payment handle to receive personal donations from her.
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Ryan Reynolds and wife Blake Lively announced on social media that they donated $1 million to Feeding America and Food Banks Canada.
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Pop star Ariana Grande said in her Instagram Stories that she had made donations to several organizations, including Opportunity Fund, GiveDirectly, Feeding America, Croce Rossa Italiana and the World Health Organization.
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A physician in Los Angeles, Dr. Thais Aliabad, wrote on Instagram that Kylie Jenner, one of her patients, had “donated $1,000,000 to help us buy hundreds of thousands of masks, face shields, and other protective gear.”
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NFL player Drew Brees told TMZ that he’s donating $5 million to the state of Louisiana to help with the coronavirus relief efforts.
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Oscar-winning actress and humanitarian Angelina Jolie donated $1 million to No Kid Hungry to help provide meals for children in low-income families, the organization said in a statement.
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Country music legend Dolly Parton said on Instagram that she donated $1 million to Vanderbilt’s research for a COVID-19 cure.
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Jay-Z’s Shawn Carter Foundation matched Rihanna’s donation of $1 million to relief efforts.
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Bruno Mars, who has a residency in Las Vegas, donated $1 million to the MGM Resorts Foundation to help MGM employees in the city who lost work due to the pandemic, his representative said, according to E News.
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The players, coaches and owners of the Golden State Warriors announced they are donating $1 million to help employees at the Chase Center who lost work because of canceled NBC games.
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Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg partnered with a Silicon Valley food bank to put $5.5 million toward creating the COVID-19 Emergency Fund for Feeding Families.
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Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey said on his platform that he is donating $1 billion in shares of his other company Square Inc. to help fund relief efforts. Dorsey said it is about 28% of his wealth. After “we disarm the pandemic,” Dorsey said, the money will also help fund girls’ health and education, as well as universal basic income.
Along with Rihanna’s charitable foundation, committed $2.1 million toward shelter, meals and counseling for victims of domestic violence for a total $4.2 million grant.
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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said on Instagram that he is giving $100 million to Feeding America, an organization with more than 200 food banks across the country.
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Beyonce’s BeyGOOD foundation also partnered with Jack Dorsey, teaming up with his #startsmall initiative to donate $6 million to local community organizations so they can provide necessities like food, cleaning supplies, protective gear, medicines and more.
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There is certainly no shortage of kind acts from people helping others get through the coronavirus pandemic, and that includes celebrities and Hollywood artists social distancing like the rest of us
As the number of people sickened by COVID-19 continues to rise, there is certainly no shortage of kind acts from people helping others get through the pandemic. And that includes celebrities and Hollywood artists social distancing like the rest of us. These famous do-gooders are reaching into their own pockets to make life under quarantine just a little bit easier.
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