COVID-19 and RESPECT

Following state and national recommendations regarding social-distancing and as consistent  with the policies of local schools and public institutions, RESPECT has suspended its live programs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are saddened that the additional thousands of students who had been scheduled to participate in RESPECT programs will miss out learning the information, skills and resources to protect themselves against bullying, and be better prepared for challenges related to mental health, internet safety, child sexual abuse, dating violence, and other important issues through our interactive educational theatre activities during this time.

In the meantime, we are hard at work on projects such as further developing our program evaluation systems, updating language in our scripts, creating lesson plans and working on the third edition of our resource guide.

We are also keeping all of our administrative functions up and running to ensure that our organization stays strong and equipped to restart offering programs once the health crisis is over and staying on top of the additional human resource and policy needs to weather this unprecedented outbreak.

There is a way you can help.
While our actor-educators work for RESPECT on a part-time and mostly per-show basis, we will be able to offer 50% of what they would have planned on earning during the next few weeks for programs or work that has been canceled, and we will continue to pay the usual rate for new work completed.  Our hope is to also offer opportunities to connect to audiences remotely through online videos created by our actor-educators demonstrating skills and techniques that we use in our usual programs. We know, however, that this is not enough. We are asking our Friends of RESPECT to consider donating gift cards to be given to our actor-educators to assist with essentials such as groceries and utilities during the time work will be limited.  You can make a donation through our website and check that the donation is to support actor-educators during COVID-19 at www.respect2all.org/donate.  If you’d like to donate specific kinds of gift cards please respond to this email and we will coordinate that with you.

Below you can find some links to additional resources that may be of help to you.  Thank you for supporting RESPECT and we look forward to building healthy relationships in person again soon!

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: Supporting your Mental Health While Navigating Change

Teaching Tolerance: A Healthy Reminder to Educators During School Closures

Common Sense Media: Resources for Families During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Just for Kids: A Comic Exploring the New Coronavirus

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline:  1-800-273-8255

Boys Town National Hotline:  1-800-448-3000