April 7, 2020 | COVID-19 Community Response Roundup: Repurposing Ingredients & Face Mask Selfies | By: Abby Armato, Communications Coordinator, NMSC |

Photo credit: Charles Town Now (left) and Main Street Oceanside & O'side Kitchen Collaborative (center and right)

The COVID-19 Community Response blog series features ideas and approaches that local Main Street America programs are taking in response to the pandemic. We will be posting these roundups frequently throughout the duration of the crisis. To view the full collection of roundups as well as access our robust collection of coronavirus-related resources, please visit our COVID-19 Main Street Resources webpage.

Repurposing Ingredients. Earlier this week, Main Street Oceanside shared the incredible initiative of their friends at O’side Kitchen Collaborative. Cooking with ingredients sourced from closed restaurants, the O’side Kitchen Collaborative has served over 10,000 meals to food insecure neighbors in just 17 days. Hoping to continue to increase that number, Main Street Oceanside asked the community to spread the word and help if possible. Our hats off to both organizations!

Virtual Scavenger Hunt. A twist on Social Distancing Bingo, Main Street Bucksport in Bucksport, Maine, has developed a new way to get the community supporting local safely: a virtual scavenger hunt. Broken down into five categories, the 15 activities listed in this hunt have community members doing things from thanking local emergency personnel to reading a book. Participants post pictures of themselves completing the individual tasks on social media. Those that accomplish all 15 are entered into a drawing to win one of four $25 cash prizes.

Developing New Apps. Nebraska Main Street Network shared some great news late last week: two students at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln have developed an app that supports mobile ordering for restaurants and cafes. Better yet, they are offering it to local businesses for free for six months. While development for the app began back in 2018, the working product is a new app as of August 2019. UNL students Luke and Jacob are happy to provide their app—Brim—for free to small businesses. “For us, if we’re able to help a few shops stay open this time… that’s a total win for us,” said Jacob in a recent interview.

Show Us Your Face Masks. In light of the CDC’s recommendation to wear face masks, Charles Town Now in Charles Town, West Virginia, is encouraging the community to face-mask-up to win a $25 giveaway to a local business. To enter the giveaway, participants need to post selfies while wearing face masks and use #FaceMaskSelfie. Simultaneously supporting local businesses and public health? Now that’s a great initiative!

We look forward to sharing more Main Street community responses. Please fill out this form if your community has implemented an idea or approach you'd like to contribute.