On the 6th of April I got an email from my tutor Helen, inviting me to help the collective Artists and Allies. I immediately accepted as I had been slowing down working on my last project the Ring Of Fire game as I was getting fatigued with the idea that I was going to have to rewrite the whole project from the ground up to make it compatible with some desirable new systems. I therefore jumped at the chance to help on a new project, especially one with such a good cause behind it. I come from a family of nurses and doctors so it means a lot to be able to do something which can help people on the front lines.
I was put in contact with Jane Prophet who is one of the team who run Artists and Allies. I had a chat to determine the scope of the project and got to work. Within about a week I had a working website and we began to run through getting the copy all worked out.
Artists and Allies is a group of artists, designers, and makers who’ve banded together to put our materials expertise into practice, creating face masks, face shields, and other personal protective equipment items for front-line workers.
I used GitHub extensively in the project to track my progress and also to keep a version of the site live online so that changes could be assessed before they were uploaded to the main server. The site is made with the W3.CSS library which streamlines the task of laying out a site for mobile and desktop simultaneously. As team members and associates have joined the effort I have been adding them as required to the website. I also helped set up a set of google forms which people can use to get in touch with the team about how they can help the group. These roles range from moving packages around Michigan to negotiating with PPE suppliers in China. I’m excited that as of Monday the 20th of April the group has raised more than $17000 to help get PPE to Michigan health workers.
It was a great boost to my attitude in lockdown to work for such a good cause. Being stuck inside can make you feel quite powerless so being able to work on a project that will materially help people is a great feeling. It has also certainly given me something to focus on instead of the world outside.