How the COVID-19 outbreak has brought out the best in many St. Louisans

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    SOUTH ST. LOUIS, MO (KMOV) — The spread of COVID-19 may be keeping people at home, but that has not stopped many St. Louisans from performing good deeds.

Tuesday, 10-year-old Ella Starrett was surprised when several cars drove by her Affton home honking for her birthday.

“Spring break is always over her birthday, so this is one of the first years that her birthday would have actually been at school, so she was really bummed about it,” said Renee Starrett, Ella’s mom.

Renee messaged a group on Facebook called ‘birthday fan club’ that aims to make kids feel special on their big day while we are practicing social distancing. The group parades by homes and honks for birthdays.

“They had music for happy birthday and posters that had happy birthday,” said Ella.

Renee said she expected a few cars to drive by and was surprised to see nearly 10.

“It makes me want to cry. It was really sweet and I think it’s probably something we’ll always remember,” said Renee. “I just have a lot of faith in humanity. In a time when sometimes people feel like there’s not a lot of good happening, people have really great hearts.”

Across town in South City, Malik Sims with the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis is working with a team of volunteers to deliver food and other items everyday to people in need.

“The only prerequisite is that you have a need. We serve the Jewish community, the Catholic community, the Christian community, even the atheist community,” said Sims.

One of the recipients was Virginia Maxwell.

“I really don’t want to be around anyone because I’m on oxygen,” said Maxwell. “I am running short on things. I haven’t even been able to go to the grocery store or anything, so I really appreciate it.”

At a time when even getting basic needs can be difficult, Chris Lozano transformed his University City solar shade business into a production site for face shields for first responders.

“Ask yourself, ‘What can I do with the people and resources and talent on hand, what can I do?’ Whether it’s to help your community or help your workers,” said Lozano.

The coronavirus has uprooted our lives, canceled plans and forced us to go about doing things differently, but maybe that’s not always necessarily a bad thing.

“I see togetherness. Where we were separated and minding our own business, now we seem to be concerned about one another,” said South City resident Nina Ross.

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