Princeton Area Alumni Association

Help this unique service project go “viral”

Imagine you are alone in a hospital, in quarantine, and you can’t even connect with family and friends because you don’t have a smart phone…

At virus hotspots across the country, countless patients - especially elderly and low-income - are suffering in social isolation without a smart device to stay connected to their families and communities. Sunny Sandhu (class of 2020) has come up with a wonderful service project, "Connect for COVID-19", and he has enlisted his classmates and alumni to help him.

“Connect for COVID-19” (www.connectforcovid19.com)  collects donations of smart devices (smartphones, tablets, laptops, spare chargers, unused earbuds) from individuals and organizations. These donations give digital access for vulnerable populations (seniors, low-income, etc.) helping tackle the social isolation of COVID-19 patients in hospitals and other care facilities. These donations also enable remote access for medical staff on the frontlines. These intrepid, masked students work with hospitals and nursing homes across the country to ensure donated devices go to the people that need it most as they fight COVID-19.

It's so easy -  fill out a form, take a photo of your devices and chargers, and then volunteers come to your house to pick up the devices. Yeah, in the Princeton area they make it ridiculously easy. They make it contact free too.

For outside the Princeton area, if you submit the donation form online, they will provide donation mailing instructions.

“Connect for COVID-19” needs phones no older than iPhone 6. Any phone that can handle Facebook and WhatsApp and text messaging. They need iPads and laptops. They need power cords, chargers, unused earbuds. They need money to buy chargers because most people don’t donate those. The device can't have any cracks and must still be working for the donation to be effective.

Security of data? There are instructions on line on how to wipe your device of data, and then the students have tech volunteers who continue to wipe out your data if you missed something.

“Connect for COVID-19” is in contact with hospitals all over New Jersey. The nurses help the seniors learn how to use the phones if that is a problem. The devices break the social isolation that many older folks and all COVID-19 patients are experiencing. This way the donation recipient can see family and friends at time where this matters more than ever.

Three ways to help:

Donate devices and power cords and chargers -
https://www.dhcproject.org/donate-device

Spread the Word -
Share this website with your social networks, friends and family
https://www.connectforcovid19.com/

Donate money through the GoFundMe campaign -
https://www.gofundme.com/f/connect-for-covid19

For more details, and coordinating corporate donations, please reach out to Sunny himself:
ssandhu@princeton.edu.

Understanding the Science Behind the COVID-19 Pandemic – Critical Information to Make Informed Decisions

A special lecture by James (Jaime) Martiney '85 P'14

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

7:00-8:15 p.m. EDT via Zoom

CLICK HERE FOR FULL RECORDING

James (Jaime) Martiney '85 P14 earned his BA in Biology from Princeton and PhD in Experimental Pathology from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Jaime has 30+ years of experience teaching STEM-related graduate-level, upper-level and intro-level courses for science, pre-health career, and non-science majors. Jaime served for fourteen years in the United States Navy Reserves, Medical Service Corps, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Commander, where he trained to strategically prepare and respond to biological warfare events, global pandemics and disaster preparedness. He was activated to Active Duty in 2003 and became a veteran during the Iraqi Freedom operations.

 His military training and duties included:

• Fleet Biological Warfare Agent Detection for Navy Environmental and Preventative Medicine Personnel – Biological Defense Research Directorate, USAMRIID
• Medical Management of Chemical and Biologic Warfare Injuries – US Navy
• CBRNE (Chemical Biological RadioNuclearExplosive event Wargame Exercises – Several, US Navy

He currently serves on the board of Association of Latino Princeton Alumni (ALPA) and regularly attends as many PA3 events as he can, including the book club.

Please join us at our next Princeton Diversity Discussion, hosted by Marita Martiney on Friday, February 21, 2020, at 6 pm, at Surf Taco Coastal Cuisine in the Princeton Shopping Center, 301 North Harrison Street. (Note this is the evening before Alumni Day.) Free parking is available. Order individually, pay at the counter, and join us at the tables inside; or feel free to come for the conversation without eating. Remember to wear your orange and black so we can find one another! RSVPs are not required, but may be sent to Jenny Korn '96.

Princeton Diversity Discussions is a monthly series of friendly and inclusive gatherings supported by the Association of Black Princeton Alumni (ABPA), Association of Latino Princeton Alumni (ALPA), Asian American Alumni Association of Princeton (A4P), Princeton Area Alumni Association (PA3), Princeton Association of Delaware, Princeton Association of New York City (PANYC), Princeton Club of Washington (PCW), Princeton Club of San Diego (PCSD), Princeton Association of New England (PANE), and Princeton Club of Chicago (PCC). We have been featured in Princeton Alumni Weekly.

Open to *everyone* (affiliated and not with Princeton) who would like to discuss race-related issues in person,. We invite alumni, students, staff, family, friends, and everyone you think is groovy to join us! So far, we have teamed up with the Duke Black Alumni Association, Harvard Women in Design, and the Harvard Kennedy School's Women's Network to co-host discussions. Hosting involves no financial commitment, only a commitment to selecting a date in the calendar and to choosing a restaurant that the host digs.

To join our Princeton Diversity Discussions email list to learn of upcoming gatherings across the United States, please email Princeton Diversity Discussions Founding Director Jenny Korn '96.

Sponsored by the Office of Community and Regional Affairs, the Department of Building Services, and the Office of the Provost, Princeton University is inviting its employees to participate in a drive for business attire clothing, gently used musical instruments, used eye glasses, and unwanted stuffed toys. PA3 members are welcome to donate to the drive.

 Items can be brought to 350 Alexander Street between the hours of 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and 1:30 p.m., weekdays, January 29 through February 5.

Details of Princeton University Drive:

Beginning Wednesday, January 29, Princeton University will be conducting its annual clothing drive to benefit Dress for Success, Home Front’s Suitably Dressed, and UIH’s Operation Fatherhood, all Mercer County organizations that collect “gently used” business attire for men and women.

These organizations assist individuals who are entering or re-entering the workforce and all types of business and business-casual clothing in good condition are needed.  This includes suits, dress slacks, khakis, dress shirts, collared casual shirts, blazers, skirts, sweaters, dresses, jackets, coats, ties, shoes, belts, jewelry, handbags and other accessories.

Princeton University will also be collecting:

• Gently used musical instruments.  All instruments will support the Princeton University music outreach programs in the community. No receipts will be given for tax purposes.

• Used eyeglasses to donate to Lions Club International.

• Unwanted stuffed toys.  All toys will be donated to Glad Dogs Nation, an organization that creates safe dog toys from old, unwanted children’s stuffed toys.  To learn more about Glad Dogs Nation visit www.gladdogsnation.com.