Janice Dean on communities coming together during the coronavirus outbreak
Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean highlights positive stories amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Scrolling through social media can feel overwhelming amid the coronavirus pandemic, but churches, communities and organizations are committed to combat the rising anxiety with positivity and hope.
Social distancing doesn't have to distance you from your faith in God and the good in the world, that's the message many pastors and leaders around the world are trying to convey through online platforms in their effort to reach the many Americans holed up due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Nick Hall, the founder of PULSE and Year of the Bible, told Fox News he started a video series called, "The Bible Quarantine," to offer people some humor, a biblical lesson, and a way "to put feet to our faith."
"People are scared right now, and the Bible has tons to say to us in moments just like this," Hall said. "The Bible Quarantine is our effort to encourage people not to waste these days binge-watching Netflix episodes, but rather to let them change us while we find ways to love our neighbor, and be the church."
Hall, who is releasing a different video each day, spoke about how you "can't cancel church" in the first episode. He noted that on the early church days people met in their homes and encouraged believers to study God's word because it "speaks to us and changes us," especially "people who are vulnerable, who are hurting, who are searching."
His Minneapolis-based organization is offering its space to local churches to record their Sunday or midweek services and is using their funds set aside for events to help out people.
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Branden Harvey, the founder of Good Good Good and host of the "Sounds Good" podcast, is giving away the next edition of their good news-focused paper free to anyone who wants it and especially to hospitals.
"We believe deeply in the power of good news to support our mental health, help us breathe easier, and encourage us to make a difference," Harvey's nonprofit writes, and he added on Twitter, "Our hope is to spread hope."
Fox News senior meteorologist Janice Dean, who is staying home due to her compromised immune system, told "Fox News @ Night" host Shannon Bream that these stories are needed now more than ever.
VidAngel, a family-friendly app that has series like "The Chosen" and "Dry Bar Comedy," is making its content free for the next two weeks.
"We understand how strapped working parents are right now trying to juggle kids at home and work from home, and we also know from personal experience how being away from school and not seeing their firends is a real challenge for all of our kids," Neal Harmon, CEO of VidAngel, said.
On the Churchome App, which already offers church at the palm of your hand, Pastors Judah and Chelsea Smith lead daily "guided prayers" to help people with issues from stress and anxiety and focus on God.
TheosU, an online "Netflix for Christian theology" used by megachurch pastors, offers people who are struggling with questions about their faith to find biblical answers on topics like hell, creation, faith, God's love and sex.
Josh Howard, left, and Ken Runager load boxes of food to be sent to Chestnut Grove Elementary at The Church at Stone River on Monday, March 16, 2020, in Decatur, Ala. Several area schools will be providing food services to students starting Wednesday after students transition to virtual support. (Dan Busey/The Decatur Daily via AP)
Churches like Crossroads Church in Cincinnati are partnering with local schools to get food, cleaning supplies and activity packets to the kids relying on school lunches for their meals.
On top of that, they are partnering with the medical community to find masks and supplies, bringing coffee and donuts to hospitals daily, and offering to help with child-care solutions.
Evangelist Franklin Graham's disaster relief non-profit, Samaritan's Purse, is airlifting a 68-bed emergency field-hospital to northern Italy on Tuesday, WXII reports.
The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews created a $5 million emergency fund to help elderly and Holocaust survivors in Israel cope with the coronavirus.
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The group is committing to helping an additional 15,000 Israelis above the age of 75 with food and other essential items.
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