OU NewsCrowd - May, 2020 edition

How Oklahoma schools are dealing with the food insecurity of students during Covid-19

As Covid-19 has made it’s approach into the United States, schools all over the country have had to close to help prevent the spread of the disease. During these closures, students, families, school faculty and staff have been worried about how children in the community will be fed. Oklahoma schools have gone to the extent to create innovative ways for students, children, and even adults to receive food from their schools after being closed for the remainder of the school year and throughout the summer.
Many students rely on the food they receive from their schools in order to maintain an adequate diet. For many, the only food they get during the day is from school by the breakfasts and lunches that they eat as well as bagged meals that they are able to take home for dinner that night. Without being provided meals by schools, a large number of students in Oklahoma would go hungry while spending the rest of the school year at home.
The Executive Director of the Child Nutrition Programs in Oklahoma, Jennifer Weber, reported that approximately 60% of students throughout Oklahoma are on the free and reduced lunch program at their schools. This program would normally only be for students that qualify through family income; foster children; those who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP,) , temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF,) or Food Distribution on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) benefits; are homeless, a run away or a migrant; but it is now being extended to all students in the district as well as children outside the district.
Several schools in Oklahoma have been able to provide meals to their students through a curbside/grab and go method as well as some delivery methods, but have limited this to just the students in their district. Union Public Schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma has come up with more innovative ways to not only reach their students, but also children outside of the district and adults as well as supporting the local economy. They are providing breakfast, lunch and dinner for students in their district but have opened their grab and go meals to children outside of the district and are now serving frozen meals for adults. While Union has been able to get products from the producers they have been using, they are serving many more meals than they normally would and are having to find alternate producers to meet their needs. Several businesses such as Chuck E. Cheese, Howie’s Pizza have donated food that they did not want to waste and the district is also supporting local farmers such as Joe’s Farm and Wydni’s Farm by purchasing produce from them and helping to limit the amount of waste they have. Hunger Free Oklahoma and the community food bank have been donating adult meals.
There is still much that is unknown regarding the next school year and what it will look like which also leaves the access of food for students in question. Districts have the ability to continue to do the curbside, grab and go and mobile meals for children, but if students return to school in the fall, a new system will have to be set in place in order to keep students, faculty and staff safe and healthy.

Lisa Griffin, director of child nutrition at Union Public Schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma; explains what Covid-19 has been like for students and how the district has had to come up with innovative ways to continue to provide meals for students while staying at home.

JMC 3003 Final Lisa Griffin, director of child nutrition at Union Public Schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma; explains what Covid-19 has been like for students and how the district ...

VIDEO CUTLINE: Savannah Vogler, a student at The University of San Diego speaks on her experience with the no-contact adoption of her new dog during the COVID-19 lockdown, contributing to the decreasing number of dog adoptions during social distancing.

500 Oklahoma residents came through the front doors of The Oklahoma City Animal Shelter on Monday, the first day they opened back up since the lockdown due to COVID-19.

The Oklahoma City Animal Shelter is an organization that takes in animals ranging from dogs and cats to horses and turtles. The Oklahoma City Animal Shelter is a 44,000 square foot building that sits on SE 29th St. in Oklahoma City.

Since Jan. 1 The Oklahoma City Animal Shelter has brought in 7,612 animals and adopted out over 2,219 of those animals.

Adoptions are crucial to the shelter. Since COVID-19, the shelter followed social distancing guidelines to ensure the safety of not only their staff, but also customers seeking their services.

“We changed our operations,” Jaurita Becker, Unit Operations Supervisor at The Oklahoma City Animal Shelter said.

“All the animals you see here go in through the front desk and out through the front desk.”

Monday was the first day The Oklahoma City Animal Shelter opened their front desk back up to the public. The shelter saw over 500 people come through their doors.

“500 is pretty high for a workday but that was the first day we opened back up the front desk”, Becker said.

Because of COVID-19 and the front desk being closed down to maintain proper social distancing during lockdown, The Oklahoma City Animal Shelter only used the front desk to take animals out of the building. Becker explained the shelter began using their back driveway as a means to bring animals in. The back driveway became a new office. The shelter moved all of their representatives along with a desk in two different locations along the back driveway. The back driveway helped keep operations at The Oklahoma City Animal Shelter running smoothly.

The Oklahoma City Animal Shelter only allowed 10 people in their building at a time. To maintain animal adoptions the shelter scheduled online animal adoption appointments. The appointments allowed potential adopters to come in and spend 15 minutes with the animals of their choice before they would adopt them.

“Adoptions dropped dramatically, there were days when we only had one or two adoptions” Becker said.

Becker explained that there are usually 20-30 adoptions on weekdays. In April of this year the shelter only adopted out 214 animals compared to April of 2019 where they adopted out over 500 animals.

Becker believes the reason the adoption numbers went down so drastically during the COVID-19 pandemic is due to people staying home and worrying about money.

However, Savannah Vogler, a student at The University of San Diego urges that the pandemic was the only reason her family adopted a dog.

“Another dog would never had been an option if it weren’t for quarantine,” Vogler said.

Vogler and her family began looking at dogs to adopt from shelters in the Oklahoma City Area in early March, but every time they scheduled an appointment to adopt a dog, they wanted it would already be adopted before they got there. The family then participated in a no-contact adoption with a shelter in Prague, OK.

A no-contact adoption involves an adopter selecting the animal they want to adopt online, paying, and then picking up the animal.

COVID-19 had a huge effect on the way animal adoptions were managed.

Savannah Vogler speaks on her experience with No-Contact Animal Adoption during COVID-19 Savannah Vogler, a student at The University of San Diego speaks on her experience with the no-contact adoption of her new dog during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Oklahoma homeless shelters work to ensure safety for some of the populations most vulnerable to Covid-19
By KaraLee Langford

VIDEO CUTLINE: Kinsey Crocker, Communications Director of Oklahoma's Homeless Alliance, talks about the effect of Covid-19 on some of the populations most vulnerable, and what she and her team are doing to help everyone stay safe.

The homeless population is among the most exposed and at risk to Covid-19. Oklahoma homeless shelters have been working around the clock in effort to continually provide necessities to one of Oklahoma’s most vulnerable populations.

An all time spike in homelessness has shelters working overtime to help their communities, while also being understaffed due to the current pandemic.

Brendan O’Flaherty, Urban Economics professor at Columbia University, conducted a study on homelessness in America, projecting a 40 to 45% increase in homelessness this year.

O’Flaherty shared his findings with Community Solutions, a nonprofit organization working to end homelessness, saying as many as 800,000 Americans could experience homelessness by the end of Summer.

Trading Economics said the current United States Unemployment rate has been the highest in history. “The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 14.7 percent in April 2020,” Trading Economics said. “The Covid-19 crisis threw millions out of work.”

O’Flaherty suggests the model used to predict homelessness outcomes follows historical patterns and should there be no other drastic alterations, Americans can expect to see the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression in 1933.

Because the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in job loss for many Americans, homeless shelters in Oklahoma are doing everything they can to continue serving their communities.

Chris Sperry, Executive Director of the Hope Center of Edmond, said they are still making sure they have ways to serve their clients. “Although our lobby is closed for walk-in clients, we have posted information at the doors as well as on our website and social media,” Sperry said in an email. “We have also posted information at a variety of businesses and apartment complexes frequented by our clients who may not have internet access.”

Sperry said the posted information explains how to apply or call for services. It also explains that the Hope Center’s food pantry is still open. “We have created a “contactless” system for our clients to pick up their food,” Sperry said. “After they apply online or on the phone, they are given an order number and a number to call when they arrive to pick up their food.”

Sperry said the process has been quick and efficient and they intend to keep these procedures in place even after the shelter re-opens their doors.

However, Kinsey Crocker, Director of Communications at the Homeless Alliance in Oklahoma City, said they are struggling to keep up with the workload. She said when Covid-19 first started, they had to stop all their volunteer efforts.

“Soon into the pandemic we realized we were just really overwhelmed and we could not do this without volunteers so we opened up a few positions for emergency volunteers,” Crocker said. “ We just couldn’t do it by ourselves.”

Crocker said they began to bring in three volunteers at a time to help.

“It was really important to us to figure out how we could serve them [Oklahoma’s homeless population], but serve them safely,” Crocker said.

3003 Final Story- KaraLee Langford Kinsey Crocker, Communications Director of Oklahoma's Homeless Alliance, talks about the effect of Covid-19 on some of the populations most vulnerable, and w...

Video Link: https://youtu.be/aHl71iTpPq0
Cutline: OU volleyball player Sabrina Simms discusses how she and her teammates have been physically preparing for their upcoming season with the COVID-19 pandemic. VIDEO BY: Audrey Goodson

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COVID-19 has impacted athletes in many ways including social distancing from teammates and being away from coaches and trainers. However, athletes’ bodies are also facing significant impacts from the pandemic. Athletes are now having to get more creative than ever to train for athletic events.
Although many highly paid professional athletes may have the luxury of having workout equipment in their homes, most amateur high school and college athletes are being challenged to come up with a more creative approach to preparing their bodies for athletic events.
According to a survey by the NCAA, four out of five collegiate athletes did not have the access to exercise equipment, either being restricted by local regulations or not having access to a facility.
Sabrina Simms, an outside hitter on the OU volleyball team says that she has had to come up with some unique ways to train for the upcoming season.
“We’ve had to get creative. [For weights] I’ve used milk jugs full of water, or my sister’s school books,” Simms says.
Without weight rooms and the normal routines that players are used to doing in order to train for their seasons, their bodies may not be ready to handle the impact of going full out in their sports without risking injury.
“My hope is that coaches in every sport realize that we can’t go from sitting on the couch and walking around our block to full out three hour long practices or full pads with full contact,” level two crossfit trainer and head coach at Fliptastic gymnastics Courtney Boggs says.
The OU volleyball team usually begins their summer training at the University of Oklahoma on June 8. Due to COVID-19, they are not able to report back to campus until July 15. The team is looking to start their season on time in the fall.
Although fans may be eager to watch their favorite athletes compete as soon as possible, athletes' bodies are not used to the same intensity that they were before the pandemic. They will have to retrain their muscular and cardiovascular conditions.
“I think it’s important that we realize their bodies have adapted to less load and have adapted to being out of their normal routine. We as coaches need to be responsible for our athletes well-being and find ways to ease them back into their normal athletic routine and help them progress step by step where they need to be,” Boggs says.
In order to avoid injury when returning to their sports, Boggs suggests that while athletes remain at home they do exercises that do not require equipment such as squats, push-ups and sit-ups.
“I’m a firm believer that you don’t need machines, you are the machine. You can get a good workout in doing basic functional movements,” Boggs says.
Although it is unclear what will happen with sporting events and COVID-19 in the future, safety will remain a concern for athletes of all ages.

JMC 3003 Final Story OU volleyball player Sabrina Simms discusses how the volleyball team is physically preparing for their upcoming season with the COVID-19 pandemic.

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The global pandemic has been affecting most things in our world, but one area that has taken a major hit is college sports recruiting. College recruiting peaks during the spring semester, and provides players with an opportunity to check out their college of choice, but not this year. With the inability to play in a spring season for some sports, or get the opportunity to visit different prospective colleges, high school athletes around the country have been put at a terrible disadvantage. Without the ability to meet with coaches and tour different campuses many high school athlete’s dreams of playing college sports are becoming less attainable.
For some players they were relying on this spring in order to make a decision about where they will be taking their talents. For example, Miller Moss, one of the top scouted quarterbacks in the nation was hoping to have some clarity by now “I was hoping to make a decision in the next couple of months... I want to lock in where I’m going to school, but I won’t make any preemptive decision. It has set my timeline back” (Dellenger, si.com). Moss isn’t the only player who is facing uncertainty in their career, many other players around the country had planned to be committed and now are forced to reevaluate their future.
The nature of recruiting for this year has never been seen before, and both coaches and players have to adapt to a new way of recruiting. Unlike past years, this year “with no campus visits and no in-person recruiting, coaches are relying more on film to find new recruits. And some high school players are making decisions about scholarship offers without ever stepping on a campus or meeting a coach in person” (Lowe, Press Herald). In the past face to face meetups with players and coaches were where both sides got to know each other and see if it would be a fit. Without the standard way of recruiting, coaches and players run the risk of having an athlete end up at a school that isn’t a good fit, which could cause a transfer and one year loss of eligibility for the player, or a waste of a roster spot for the coach.
High school quarterback coach at Mckiney Boyd high school, Joe Minden, has had to make major readjustments with helping his players with recruiting during the pandemic. Minden, wanting to be as helpful as he can, has had to take a whole new approach to this way of recruiting “It’s been very difficult trying to adjust to the new ways of recruiting because it’s unprecedented, it’s something we have never seen before. As a coach I have an obligation to my players to help them with recruiting to the best of my ability, but it’s new for me as well. We are all trying to learn and adapt to what’s going on in our world” (Joe Minden). Players have also faced a great amount of difficulty with the changes in recruiting, “I had wanted to play baseball at Blinn (A&M) before the coronavirus pandemic started, but now there has been limited communication with the coaches, as well as a lot of uncertainty, so I decided to just attend college without pursuing a sport” (Dylan Nichols).
As the coronavirus continues to loom over our world, it is hard to say what the future holds for recruiting or even sports in general. College athletes who played in spring sports, and missed their season will now be offered an extra year of eligibility from the NCAA, and as of May 31st college recruiters were supposed to be able to reach out more to high school players, and invite them on to campus, but with more discussion, the date has been moved back to July 31st, and doesn’t look very promising for even that date. Although it can’t be known what exactly will happen in the future, the world of sports and nature of recruiting will be changed for a long time.

Cutline: Senior graduate, Hudson Polk, gives insight into what it is like to be a committed athlete during the global pandemic, and the struggles and changes that are affecting him because of it.

Link: https://youtu.be/UEE12NFAF3g

-Claire Wilson

jmc 3003 final Senior graduate, Hudson Polk, gives insight into what it is like to be a committed athlete during the global pandemic, and the struggles and changes that are...

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3003_ Stories From Home Melanie Langford, Hobby Lobby Customer Service Manager, speaks about her experience working retail during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Small freight business owner, Bart Wilson, explains the struggles and benefits of the coronavirus’s effects on his business.
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Bart Final Audio Small freight business owner, Bart Wilson, explains the struggles and benefits of the coronavirus’s effects on his business.

In an interview with Erin Brannon, she speaks on her own accounts of handling Covid-19 as a healthcare worker at Ascension St. John in Tulsa, OK as well as her personal accounts outside of her work.

https://soundcloud.com/jayden-brannon-192401743/ebrannoninterview3

Hello all! Have you noticed a spike in homelessness around your area recently? If so, what do you think is causing the increase?

Do you have a friend or family member who is considered "high risk" because of COVID-19? Are you taking any special precautions to help protect this person?

Happy Memorial Day! Have you had to change any of your celebration plans today because of Covid-19? If so, how? If not, what are you doing to celebrate?

With lots of places reopening and things trending back to normal post COVID-19. In what manner do you think college and professional sports will return? And how soon do you think we can expect to see it happen?