Melinda Modisette, a junior at Albuquerque Academy, has taken the initiative during these unprecedented and trying times to help the general community, especially those on the front lines of the fight against this virus. Her website, ABQ Fight COVID-19, is dedicated to offering supplies to those who need them through “exchanges.” Anyone can make a request for supplies or donate contributions to help fulfill those requests. Exchanges can then be delivered in two ways. Melinda can contact you herself or you can recieve an email with the contact information of the person with whom you are exchanging. She makes sure to take extra measures to ensure that the entire process stays safe and healthy. Once the transaction is completed it will then be visible on the website. There are also resources on the website for making your own masks, maintaining a schedule while social distancing, and reading good news instead of the lastest case numbers. Modisette was bothered that “everything that gets popular is bad news,” so she decided to change that. She has donated over 600 masks since she started and has even had donations all the way from China. In just a couple of weeks, her site has had great success and has helped hundreds!

The inspiration for her website struck after school closed. “There is a difference between staying home because of a holiday and staying home for something like the coronavirus”. In addition to staying home, Modisette decided to help by making the website. The first steps were a challenge for her as she had lots of doubts concerning building the website from scratch and whether or not it would work, but it ended up as a lesson teaching her to dive straight in and just start. She began believing that “there was no way to make a difference,” but realized, “

Working alongside Modisette are Andrew Spears ‘21 and Jesse Sanchez ‘21. Spears helped with editing and starting up the site while Sanchez came after the launch to help write and edit as well. She also received lots of help from friends and family, especially when it came to spreading the word about her wonderful creation. Her mother even contacted some people she knew in China, and Modisette continues to receive support from there. She also has friends at local hospitals who helped spread the word around.

After the virus is under control , Melinda hopes to continue to use her site to help local hospitals with other supply needs or help others with her newfound knowledge of creating and running a website.
It’s truly inspiring to see people in the community lifting each other up during these crazy and terrifying times, but stories like Melinda’s are small glimmers of hope that reassure us that everything is going to be okay. For her, Modisette says, “The current circumstances have made me appreciate the things I took for granted.” Her message is: “Don’t think that you’re alone in this.” So go check out her website, make a few masks, stay home, stay safe, and stay healthy.