Photo Fundraiser Supports Those In Coronavirus 'War Zone'

RANDOLPH, NJ - Standing among her anesthesiologist husband's discarded clothes in the garage of their Randolph home, Tiffany Basdekis knew she had to do something. On the nights he does come home and is not sleeping in a call room to help fight the novel coronavirus, or COVID19, pandemic, 36-year-old George, has a complex procedure to disinfect before seeing his family.

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"I make him strip in the garage and leave everything there so I can throw it straight into the washing machine. It’s lots and lots of laundry washed super hot, handled with gloves on," Basdekis said, noting that the kids are not allowed to go near their father until after he has showered. "They get about five minutes with him before they have to go to bed since it is already so, so late. It is FaceTiming much more than face time."

Basdekis said she's developed a serious case of obsessive compulsive disorder involving lots of disinfectant on car doors, door knobs, baby gates, anything that may accidentally be touched between the garage and the closest bathroom where he washes his hands.

When news came to here that personal protection equipment was running out for those on the front lines, she was scared.

"I read one in particular about a husband whose wife works as an ICU nurse in the city and she didn't have a N95 respiratory mask, and was covering her face with whatever homemade mask she could get her hands on. He talked about how worried he was for her and their children about contracting the virus. This made my heart stop," Basdekis said. "The thought of my husband being in a situation where he had to do that is so terrifying for me, in an already pretty terrifying situation. I obviously really relate to the fear of these healthcare workers and their spouses and children, who are also on the front lines in a different way."

And so Basdekis came up with an idea to those like her husband in hospitals hard hit by the pandemic. It started when Basdekis saw many of her social media friends around the country participating in the Front Porch Project and thought it was a great idea.

"The concept is a photographer coming to your home and taking a photo from six feet or more away to keep social distancing, of you and your family standing on your front porch or outside your house," she said. "I wanted to do this because this is such a weird and crazy and unique time in our lives, that I thought it would at the very least be an interesting thing to look back on. Also, the idea was the photographers would donate whatever their fee would be to a COVID-19 related charity or hospital."

But duplicating that was a non-starter. After contacting a local photographer through a town Facebook page who was offering such sessions she discovered they had ceased because of blowback about the sessions not being essential when under a stay-at-home order. So she decided to move the entire thing to the internet.

"All of a sudden I had the idea: what if we make the experience virtual? So everyone could participate online and there was no fear of violating social distancing guidelines. Within hours, we created the Facebook page, and then I created the accompanying go fund me page for donations," she said. "We called the group the Virtual Front Porch Project and it's still very new."

Group members post photos and have anyone else who wants to post their own photos of their families, whether it be on the front porch of their home or elsewhere inside, and they are encouraged to get creative.

"We also ask for members to post photos of happy memories in healthier times so we can all remind each other that this too shall pass and we'll get back there eventually," Basdekis said. "The only real stipulation is that it has to be something that positive and hopeful, since I think everyone is really overloaded with negativity on social media and in life generally right now."

The fundraising page is designed to bring in the giving back aspect that this original project was supposed to promote. The Virtual Porch Project is for Morristown Medical Center, New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Medical Center in New York City and Northern Westchester Hospital in Westchester County, NY.

"Morristown was an obvious for us because it is our local hospital," Basdekis said. "We wanted to do a NYC hospital because we both have spent many years working and/or living there, and obviously the virus has been crazy there. I also have a close friend who is a radiologist there who was telling me that it's a war zone and she was getting pulled into caring for ICU patients, when that was never her specialty, since it is definitely an all hands on deck situation."

The last hospital chosen is Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, NY.

"I'm originally from Westchester, and as you know it is the original epicenter of the virus in the US, even before arriving in the city," said Basdekis.

Basdekis, a former public health employee at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, is now a stay-at-home mother and says that both experiences inform her movement.

"It is a lesson to our children about the human spirit and what we do for others," she said. "And it is hope that there are so many others out there working side by side with him to get us through the storm. And so many other families that know exactly what we are living."

Basdekis said this is not just another fundraiser to her and the page is not another generic Facebook page.

"It is a way of spreading positive vibes and focusing on what is good in life instead of all the bad happening now. It is a distraction from loneliness and isolation, that I know so many others feel too," she said. "It’s desperately needed funds for three extremely hard hit hospitals in the epicenter of this outbreak. This is money for personal protection equipment, such an important thing. One dollar today is a dollar more than these organizations had yesterday. Every cent counts."

To get involved visit the Facebook page or the GoFundMe page.

Patch is a GoFundMe promotional partner.

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