Drag Queens and Restaurateurs: An Unlikely Partnership Amid the Pandemic

In Montana, a handful of manufacturers have adapted their facilities to make products and materials that help healthcare workers safely work on the frontlines of the Covid-19 pandemic. From face shields to liquid transport mediums, these businesses are finding new ways to play a larger role in the efforts to contain the virus, while also keeping their employees working.

A tension fabric structures manufacturing company in Maine has repurposed their facility and transformed their local workforce to create grade-one medical masks for the local hospital during the Covid-19 pandemic. Because the company uses only U.S.-made materials, they have been able to avoid supply chain interruptions and now plans to continue making masks as part of their standard business model even after the pandemic passes.

To avoid laying off employees during the coronavirus pandemic, a New Hampshire small business that manufactured hard lemonade and liquors turned their operation into producing hand sanitizer for first responders. Although many distilleries have implemented this practice, this company's new endeavor has still already fulfilled orders from "hospitals and first responders, including the Massachusetts State Trooper Association."

Artist and activist Warren Neidich organized drive-by art exhibits in two cities to help unemployed artists and communities feeling isolated during the Covid-19 related shutdown. Inspired by drive-by birthday, graduation, and other celebrations during the Covid-19 pandemic, participants found the art exhibit inspiring and thought-provoking while providing much-needed distraction during difficult times. Almost 130 artists in LA exhibited their work so it could be seen from cars, even including some live music, poetry readings, and puppet shows performed from artists’ proproperties.

With restaurants closing and people panic-buying groceries, food waste is inevitably going to rise. There are many initiatives going on throughout the United States to address this very issue. For example, nonprofit Rethink in New York City pays restaurant staff to create meals out of the surplus ingredients that other restaurants have, which are then sold to the public with a $3 donation. For individuals, there are even ways to shift your behavior with preserving and consuming the food you buy that will allow them to last longer and be eaten in entirety.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, owners of the French bistro Bell's took a financial risk and began investing more money in their employees to incentivize working, increase employee satisfaction and retention and overall drive more profits. The decision has since paid off and is reimagining the traditional restaurant structure.

In service industries that traditionally pay and treat workers poorly, worker-owned cooperatives serve as a humane alternative. Worker-owners at eight co-ops in four states describe the difference their jobs make in their working conditions and their lives. They also tell how larger collectives and cooperatives pool resources to help smaller co-ops with the funding and expertise they need, especially when confronted by a disruptive event like the pandemic.

To save dozens of restaurants in San Francisco during the coronavirus lockdowns, a restaurant owner launched an organization that "provides monthly contracts to its restaurant partners to cook meals for underserved populations." The organization, which has 160 restaurant partners so far, helps fill the gaps left by the government-funded Paycheck Protection Program.

The Japanese government is embracing the idea of "workation" trips for employees across industries as a means to "help the travel industry and keep the economy ticking" as the country moves forward in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Discounts for various travel resources have encouraged 4.2 million people to try out the idea which has been made even more feasible due to the widespread adoption of remote teleworking.

Some arts organizations in Orange County, CA have found creative ways to deal with Covid-19 closures by bringing their collections online, creating digital programming, and reaching out to new audiences. For example, the Muckenthaler Cultural Center hands out weekly art kits to kids and seniors and reports donation support from an entirely new group of donors. Others have taken the opportunity to create new content and bring their collections online to engage with those stuck at home of all ages. Not all have been able to withstand the Covid-related closures and many art galleries have closed down for good.