Jesse Menashe, Jared Glassman and Benjamin Meringoff, who have all been close pals since second grade, joined together to create their project called COV-AID. The trio have helped streamline the process for people who meet the eligibility requirements for the vaccine and are interested in receiving it.
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"They each were having their own experience trying to have their own family members get vaccine shots," Judy Menashe said. "Jesse's parents and grandparents were having issues. Ben's parents were having issues. Jared's parents were having issues. Ultimately, once their family members got their vaccination the boys came together and said, 'Hey, how could we help others do this?' They were thinking about the older population. They put together a flyer. We live in Hewlett, so they contacted the business association to put a clip in the newspaper, they got it out on social media and the newspaper printed a whole article on them. It sparked."
While the vaccine is still in its early stages of being administered, the process of receiving a vaccine can be tricky. Due to the limited quantities and high demand, there are requirements based on age, pre-existing conditions and geographic location that can make the process difficult, especially without access to a computer.
The trio initially aimed to help the older population, but soon learned - as their inbox began to grow - that their efforts could be extended to all ages of people trying to receive the vaccine.
"At first, their thought process was the older population," Judy said. "The first probably 25 people were older, who didn't know how to work a computer or something like that. Then, it branched out to people telling other people of all ages. Some were teachers who couldn't find shots, some were people who have medical conditions who couldn't find shots. Then, it became all ages."
It's only been a little over three weeks since Jesse, Jared and Benjamin began their COV-AID initiative, but they've already helped around 60 people receive shots. And their efforts haven't just been in Hewlett, they've provided aid to people in Great Neck, Brooklyn and Queens.
While the pandemic still persists, the vaccine has provided a hopeful and promising horizon. For the boys, nothing has been more gratifying than helping their community with something as life changing as receiving the vaccine.
"It was just them trying to help the community and doing it on a volunteer-basis," Judy said. "At first, it was cute, they were like, 'What if no one no one reaches out to us?' Once they posted it on the Facebook page that they created people just started reaching out. It's been very exciting for them. They truly enjoy it."
For more information or details on COV-AID please reach out to
[email protected]
.
