Seeing a need to appreciate frontline workers fighting the spread of COVID-19, Ben Sharf ’20 — an economics major and member of the men’s hockey team — co-founded the nonprofit organization 6FTCloser. Launched on April 10, 6FTCloser shares videos from grateful citizens who want to say thank you to essential workers.
“The thing we realized that was missing was personal gratitude,” Sharf explains. “In New York City, people are applauding from their balconies. We felt, if there was a way to actually thank these workers — show them we know who they are and appreciate what they’re doing — we could get powerful responses.”
Anyone can access 6FTCloser for free to either nominate a family member or friend by submitting the person’s name, job, and city where they are located, or to submit a short video. The campaign is for all frontline workers, including health care professionals, meal delivery volunteers, police personnel, grocery store employees, fire fighters, custodial staff, and utility workers.
Once workers are added to the database, they are matched with someone who wants to send a thank you. Through a text message, people learn info on the individual and send back a short video. An opt-in text is then sent to the worker to see the video made just for them. They then have the option to respond to the person who nominated them and to their video submission.
Each of the seven-person team of 6FTCloser brought their own talents to help the platform expand quickly. “We started by building out a product and had a couple of videos made,” says Sharf. “Reading the responses from the workers was enough to realize that this is a powerful thing. It gives us the energy to keep building 6FTCloser, in addition to the schoolwork and jobs we have going on as well.”
As head of strategic partnerships, Sharf coordinates with large health care organizations, fire departments, and any company that has a bulk number of employees fighting the spread of COVID-19. His goal is to get as many frontline workers registered in the system to be acknowledged as possible, and he works with marketing teams at various companies to motivate organizations to get involved. Outside of doctors and nurses, Sharf says, he is specifically communicating with agencies to get everyone contributing on the front lines involved.
“We have one key indicator of success for the company, and that is the number of videos that we can create,” Sharf says. “That, and how many smiles.”