Steel Athletics suspended group fitness activities in May because of the island lockdown. They have since started offering services to their members with safety precautions in mind.

Instagram Live workouts were a great way for the Steel Athletics coaches to motivate themselves and their members to continue their fitness journey despite the pandemic.

“I wanted to provide a workout where we can all still be together and be supportive. I know how it is to try to self-motivate when no one’s around, it’s hard,” Coach JJ said.

Steel Athletics opened its doors in January 2017. Their mission was to create a facility for like-minded people who put health and fitness as a priority.

Coach JJ and his wife, Francesca Ambrose, own and manage the facility in Tamuning.

“We’ve grown a community that is quite amazing. It happened so organically, without us even thinking about it,” Ambrose said.

For more information on Steel Athletics membership and class schedules, visit their website at steelathleticsguam.com or their Instagram at @steelathletics.

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Customers drove by their stand at Sagan Kotturan Chamoru Cultural Center and picked up dragon fruits, lemmai chips, microgreens, egg-laying chicks, and more.

GSC purchases local farmers’ excess produce and uses Farm Fresh Produce to teach the community about produce that exists on the island.

Kristin Oberiano, secretary of GSC, is grateful for the community’s excitement in supporting farmers and helping the local agriculture economy grow.

“Being part of Farm Fresh Produce, we get to know farmers and we get to know where our food is coming from, and we want to share that with the rest of the island’s community,” said Oberiano.

Customers can pick up Farm Fresh Produce orders at Sagan Kotturan Chamoru Cultural Center every Thursday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

To place an order, visit their website at gusustainable.org. Follow their Instagram for more updates on their “Supporting Farmers, Sustaining Families” initiative at @gusustainable.

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Wallis has been employed at T Galleria by DFS in Tumon for 26 years. She was unfortunately furloughed by her employer in March.

With all the time she spends at home, Wallis has decided to take up new hobbies. She has begun growing and harvesting vegetables for healthy home-cooked meals.

“There’s not much to do, especially since I live alone, so I started gardening and going for a run every day. I noticed that most of my neighbors have been doing the same thing.”

Wallis is also grateful for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefit. Aside from her health, much of her concerns are about financially supporting herself while being unemployed.

“I’m able to save some money and make meals out of my vegetables, but PUA still helps a lot. It’s hard to find another way of income for buying food and necessities,” said Wallis.

Wallis continues to grow her garden and, like many furloughed employees, anxiously waits to go back to work.

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Its team consists of five University of Guam students and a Penn Foster College student. The team knew each other from Tiyan High School. 

The Wonder Kid Project was created with the purpose of serving the community and raising awareness for issues that the team is passionate about.

As a response to the coronavirus, the team announced their first community project. They recently launched a COVID-19 relief mission through their GoFundMe page.

 “I think it was a good idea that people like us, who may have the time to put on something like this, to help out,” said Eries Moreno, a sophomore at UOG and project coordinator of the team.

The island lockdown made it a struggle for the team to connect with potential beneficiaries.

It was also a challenge to promote their newly launched group on social media. However, the team was able to reach out to those who could participate in the project while staying at home.

“We’re not able to schedule meetings [with our beneficiaries] or hand them checks personally because we’re trying to work from home as much as possible,” said Alanna Fegurgur, a sophomore UOG student who manages the project’s social media.

Maria Minas, sophomore UOG student and family assistance person-of-contact, explains that the project was able to show how responsive the community can be when we find ourselves in times of need.

One of the team’s first accomplishments was collecting $523 in donations within the initial launch of their organization.

“The Wonder Kid Project shows that as a collective group, we’re able to gain support from the community to help the community,” Minas said.

Although it is a relatively new group, the Wonder Kid Project has received praise for taking initiative and choosing to take on this project during Guam’s lockdown.

Janel Tahimik, a student from Guam Community College, appreciates the team’s initiative in reaching out to the local community during the quarantine.

“The Wonder Kid Project was well-organized and beautifully put together by inspiring people,” Tahimik said. “I’m confident that this project has made a big difference to those in need.”

The group is also happy to see the local community come together and put the CHamoru concept of inafa’maolek into action.

“The whole value of inafa’maolek and how we interdepend on one another and help each other during times of need—that’s how the culture is here on island,” said Steven Kho, a sophomore UOG student who handles the project’s financial logistics.

Future plans for the organization are yet to be determined by the team. Currently, they are focusing on finishing up their COVID-19 relief mission.

“We’ll think of a way where we establish ourselves as a non-profit organization, but as of right now, it’s still just a community group,” said Moreno.

The Wonder Kid Project continues to distribute its collected donations among their beneficiaries and the families that reached out for financial relief.

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