A Way to Help During COVID-19

There are ways to help during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Before classes were cancelled for the rest of the year, Herndon lawyer Doug Landau was spending a lot of time discussing civic virtues with his bright, hardworking 8th graders at Rachel Carson Middle School. They talked about their community service hours. When Landau asked how many had completed their allotment, a number of hands went up. When he asked how many students had done more than the required hours, he got no hands.

Doug Landau donating blood
Even though classes, trials, and voting were cancelled, attorney Doug Landau could set a good example for his Civics and Constitutional Law students by donating blood. There is always something you can do to help your community, even in this time of “social distancing.”

This then led into a discussion of Civic Virtue vs. Civic Duty. The students understood that taxes, serving on a jury, and sometimes military service are required of citizens. Voting, volunteering, demonstrating for or against ta law, candidate or party, and other civic-minded activities are not. Becoming a bone marrow donor, giving blood, and serving as an election volunteer, which are all things their instructor Doug Landau has done, are examples of activities that exemplify civic virtue.

With this in mind, please donate blood! The Washington, D.C. region is experiencing a critical shortage of blood due to limited donations during this time of social distancing. No one has gotten the coronavirus from donating blood. As Doug Landau noted when he volunteered recently, the medical screening is very thorough and they explain every step of the process. If you have the capacity to donate this life-saving resource, please consider doing so now more than ever. Lawyer Landau will be permitted to donate again on the first week of May, 2020.

If you need a specific, local connection to purpose in addition to COVID-19, there are kids in the Fairfax Hospital Cardiac ICU who are critically ill with heart disease and many of them need blood transfusions. Babies are still being born with hearts that need immediate surgery and they need blood to go into cardiopulmonary bypass to have their open heart surgery. Click here to pick a location and schedule a donation appointment.

And most of all, thank you.

Click here for updates on the Abrams Landau law office in regards to COVID-19.