Stepping up to help fellow students in quarantine

For students arriving on Hawai’I Island for Fall semester, the current mandatory 14-day home quarantine presents several challenges, namely how to get food and essential supplies. Seeing a need to help their fellow students, officers of the DKICP Phi Lambda Sigma chapter organized a volunteer quarantine service.

Run entirely online, the service is available to any DKICP student in quarantine. They can fill out a Google form requesting a small (10-item) grocery order or pickup of other essentials, disposal of trash, or even dog walking. Quarantined students either order and pay for items ahead of time or pay through Venmo.

“With around 70 DKICP students in quarantine, we knew there was a need for this kind of service,” says PLS chapter president Jessica Song. “We put out a call to all DKICP students and several people volunteered to help run errands. They inform us of their availability and we match them with the requests we get.”

The chapter plans to continue the service through September 7, when all students will have completed their quarantine.