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Exclusive: Javier Munoz Shines a Spotlight on the Helpers of the Broadway Relief Project
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Oct 28, 2022
When New York City was in need, Broadway stepped in to help. Broadway Green Alliance, Open Jar Studios and Broadway veteran Javier Muñoz came together in March to form Broadway Relief Project- a coalition of many skilled artists in the Broadway community who are partnering with NYC/EDC (Economic Development Corporation) to assist the medical community to build surgical gowns and other needed materials.
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Hi, I'm Javier Munoz, and about a week into the lockdown here in New York City
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Molly Braverman of Broadway Green Alliance, Jeff Whitting of Open JAR Studios, and myself
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collaborated to create what is now known as the Broadway Relief Project
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The mission of the project is to provide as many PPEs to the frontline caretakers
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everywhere in New York State right now. Right now, we are manufacturing thousands of gowns at Open JAR Studios
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and that's happening weekly, and it takes an amazing amount of people to make that happen
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And that's what these interviews are about, shining a spotlight on the many Broadway helpers
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who are the true heart and engine of the Broadway Relief Project. And hopefully in doing so, we'll also provide a little inspiration and a little comfort
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So with me today is Joya Ahmed. And Joya, hi. Hi. Hi. Thanks for having me
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Thank you. So Joya is a pre-med student who is hopefully aiming to take the MCAT and enroll this fall
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Fingers crossed. And you're also the New York City Regional Coordinator for what is known as Med Supply Drive
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And I know the incredible work you've been doing, but for folks watching, if you could briefly explain what Med Supply Drive is and what your role as regional coordinator entails
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Sure. So Med Supply Drive is a volunteer-run organization pending 501C3 status, also fingers crossed, that was started in mid-March by a group of medical students at Georgetown Medical School who saw, like all of us, the crisis happening around the country and around the world and wanted to help
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And so it started with that group of Georgetown med students. They reached out on social media, on Twitter, and on Instagram for regional coordinators to kind of helm the ship in various local efforts so that things were
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a little bit more centralized in those areas instead of all coming from the Georgetown area of D.C
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And when I saw that call and saw that no one had signed up for New York City yet, I thought
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well, I could do this. I'm home. I'm healthy. I'm young. And I have enough knowledge of the
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healthcare industry and knowledge of organizing in New York that I feel comfortable actually taking
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on this responsibility. So I literally DM'd them on Twitter, which is how I think all great
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things start these days And from the cold DM came a really wonderful chapter in New York City that has been doing PPE donations not just to hospitals but also to clinics to homeless shelters to youth shelters
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to LGBTQ-specific healthcare sites, to prisons, and to Native American reservations. So we're casting a wide net, because if we're going to kind of deal with something that casts as wide of a net
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as a pandemic does, our response has to match that in scope. And so my responsibilities as a regional coordinator are doing what it sounds like, doing a lot of coordinating
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So I send a lot of emails. I kind of guide our volunteer group who are doing remote outreach and deliveries and pickups
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helping them maintain a safety protocol, which I wrote based on guidance from physicians that I know
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CDC guidelines and current research, and just staying in constant contact with frontline providers
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to find out what they need and donors to find out what they have. So that's been the majority of it
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And then the other really wonderful part has been trying to track down all the different groups that exist in New York City doing the same work and see how we can partner with each other
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So that's the gist of it as a regional coordinator. That's tremendous
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And it's exactly that I want to pick up on in that work of sort of exploring the other efforts that are happening, what or who led you to the Broadway Green Alliance and to working
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with our Broadway community. So around March, I want to say like 23rd or 24th
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very early on in my stint as regional coordinator, a Philadelphia student reached out to me
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I think also on Twitter potentially, and said, hey, I'm in Philly
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We've got a bunch of gloves from the Philadelphia Art Museum. And right now, Philadelphia is not being hit in the same way that New York is
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Can we send some to you? And I said, of course, yes, please. She sent me a massive box of gloves
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And then a couple weeks later, She was like, I know this person named Molly who might be able to connect you with something in New York
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Can I connect you guys over text? And I said, yes, and that's how I met Molly or met Molly virtually and how I got connected to the Broadway community doing this work
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Which is incredible. And from your perspective, I mean, what has the impact been either that you've witnessed or even in the work itself on a daily basis
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what kind of impact has it had for you to be combining forces with the Broadway community right now and with everything that we trying to do as well So I think the biggest thing that it has meant to me is that it reflected what New York diversity looks like not just in what people do and who people are
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but also how people respond. And I've lived in New York for about 10 years now
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so I've been here for a few disasters. I was here during Sandy and saw the incredible outpouring of support
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that happened then and being here now and seeing that that support doesn't just come
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from within the healthcare industry. It comes from everyone. Has been really important to me
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a lot of these efforts for PPE have been started by medical students, which is amazing
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But there's also a lot of folks who are not in the medical community or even premeds like me
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who care just as much about taking care of our cities and taking care of the people who keep us safe
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So our New York City Volunteer Chapter is full of artists, is full of people who are performers and writers and singers and dancers
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and they have incredible contributions to make as well. So seeing Broadway come through, and Broadway has a history of coming through
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in moments of crisis and moments of need. And seeing that on a concrete level
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and being able to partner with that has been wonderful for me as a coordinator, but also as a person
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who loves art and music and performance and Broadway. I think it is a beautiful reflection of New York City
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and the way New York City comes through for each other. My goodness, that's so wonderful
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Thank you for that. And just to sort of wrap it all up here
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why do you think right now these kinds of actions are so important, both for you specifically and just overall
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I think pandemics are both the most global thing we could deal with
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and the most individual and isolating thing we could see. And I think that impact is really hard to articulate
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but I'm seeing it in healthcare workers, and I'm also seeing it in just my friends
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who have no personal stake in fighting the disease on the front lines
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but have very much a personal stake in fighting the disease in their own homes and in their own bodies and in their own lives
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And everyone feels so alone. People on the subway all going to work are now trying to stay away from each other
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People can't hug their friends when they go to have a socially distanced visit
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People are not seeing their parents for months on end. I haven't seen my parents. They're in Philadelphia
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And I haven't been back to visit them because that's a risk and that's not something I want to do. And that's so isolating
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So to see groups of people and large groups of people, finding ways to come together while staying apart and still do this kind of work I think provides a kind of a bomb for the isolated soul in a way and lets us feel like things aren happening to us in isolation And I think there also a lot of support that
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this kind of work shows to physicians and nurses and techs and assistants on the front lines
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when they can look on their Twitter or their Instagram or in their newspaper or on the radio
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and say like, oh, someone cares about me because there's been so much administrative and
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institutional breakdown in this process where people have been left feeling completely unsupported
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by the places that they've given their whole lives to, that they often end up feeling like
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no one cares about me. And I've heard so many doctors and nurses tell me that personally
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I've had calls from people crying. I've had calls from people definitely mid-panic attacks saying, nobody cares about us
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We're all going to die here. What do I do? And to be able to say, okay, someone cares about you, even if it's just me, there's a bunch of
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people with me and with us who care about you, even if you can't see us, even if it's just a text
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message or an email, to be able to tell people and then give concrete evidence that we care
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here's a mask, is so much more important than I think any of us could have realized before
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this started. That's amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you for taking time today
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Thank you for all the work you're doing. Thank you for all you've done. And just really a pleasure to meet you today and get to time
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and just and hear your incredible perspective and testimony. Thank you so much
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Thank you and thank you as well. I'm a huge fan. So this is awesome
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When I got the email from Molly, I was like, oh my goodness, Broadway. I'm not ready
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I need to do a face mask on top of my surgical mask. So thank you
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And as always, I'm so so proud of the creative community in this city for being not
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just like concrete helpers, but also just like bringing light and music to a really dark time
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It means a lot to see it. And I've definitely gone back to a lot more showtune soundtracks than I was
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listening to in February, which tells me that I should maybe be listening to them more often in
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general because they've been great. It's all joy. Yeah. It's all, and it's great to see. It's nice
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to both escape into a fantasy world of a show and also see those same performers and participants
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making a concrete impact in the real world. I think it's a beautiful marriage. Yeah. Oh, I love it. Awesome. Thank you. Thank you. It was great to meet you
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#Broadway & Musical Theater
#Public Health