For most of us around Alabama, this marked the third full week since the COVID-19 pandemic hit home, closing schools and business and canceling concerts and sporting events.

The "new" normal of social distancing and shelter-in-place -- terms that were foreign to us just a few weeks ago -- has started to feel almost normal.

But we are a resilient lot, and during times like these, we pull together and help each other out.

From the Cullman County businessman who fed the truck drivers to the Auburn engineers who designed a way to convert CPAP machines into life-saving ventilators, here are some of the people and stories that made us proud to call Alabama home this week.

Photo by Giana Han

'Park and Pray' boosts morale at Opelika hospital

Every morning and night from 7 to 7:30, when the shifts change at East Alabama Medical Center, cars park in the guest lot of the Opelika hospital and the drivers turn on their hazard lights and join each other in prayer for the hospital patients and workers.

“Park and Pray,” as it has become known, has become so big that there's a rush to get to the side of the hospital that faces the parking lot. Patients and staff lean against the windows, wave and hold up their flashlights.

"We've just kind of thrown it out there and asked the community, and if anyone feels led by the Spirit,” Laura Eason, the chaplain at East Alabama Medical Center, says. "It's been amazing to see what the Lord has done to grow this thing by just word of mouth."

READ MORE: 'Park and Pray' increases morale at Opelika hospital with 'outpouring of love and support'

Don't Edit

Huntsville Toyota plant will start making face shields

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama is back at work, so to speak.

The Huntsville plant, which employs more than 1,300 people, is part of a Toyota-wide shutdown of manufacturing facilities across North America because of the coronavirus pandemic.

But the Toyota plant in Huntsville said this week that it will begin producing thousands of face shields for health care workers.

"With our plant idled, Toyota Alabama is eager to contribute our expertise and know-how to help quickly bring to market the equipment needed to combat COVID -19," the company said in a statement.

Toyota will make 7,500 face shields to donate to local hospitals, as well as donate 160 pairs of safety glasses along with a $25,000 donation to the United Way of Madison County.

READ MORE: Huntsville Toyota plant to start making face shields

Don't Edit

"We love our community, and just want to do something for them and let them know we are thinking about them.” Posted by This is Alabama on Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Homewood flower shop owner ties bows to lift spirits

When Homewood flower shop owner Bradley Gilbert began hanging red bows on mailboxes in Vestavia Hills to help lift the spirits of his neighbors shut in by the COVID-19 outbreak, he had no idea how much -- and how fast -- his idea would blossom.

In the first week, Gilbert and his family made and delivered nearly 800 bows to people in the Birmingham area.

It all started when Gilbert was forced to shut down his shop, Homewood Flower and Gifts, following the March 23 order to close nonessential businesses in Jefferson County to help prevent spread of the coronavirus.

"We didn't want to sit at home, wring our hands and worry about what the future holds," Gilbert told the Alabama Newscenter. "Then, I saw a Facebook post from the youth leadership at Vestavia Hills High School asking residents to put bows on their mailboxes, doors and windows to show that we're all still here, and I realized that was something we could do: Make bows at our house and donate them to people."

READ MORE: Homewood Flowers and Gifts owner lifts spirits by tying bows

Don't Edit

Auburn University photo

Auburn engineers create design to convert CPAP machines into ventilators

A group of Auburn University engineers has developed a way to quickly and inexpensively convert CPAP machines into ventilators, one of the most important tools hospitals have for helping COVID-19 patients.

Continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, machines are commonly used to help people with sleep apnea breathe more easily during sleep. The Auburn design, called RE-INVENT, is an accessory that would safely repurpose a CPAP into a functional ventilator.

Ventilators are in short supply at hospitals across the nation as the number of patients requiring respiratory assistance due to COVID-19 rises.

Michael Zabala (above, left) and Tom Burch (above, right), faculty in the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering's Department of Mechanical Engineering initiated the project along with sophomore mechanical engineering student Hayden Burch.

READ MORE: Auburn design adapts CPAP machines into emergency ventilators

Don't Edit

Photo by Adam Grusin

Birmingham chef Frank Stitt feeds his extended restaurant family

While all four of his restaurants are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, James Beard Award-winning chef Frank Stitt gets together once a week with his chefs de cuisine from Highlands Bar and Grill, Chez Fonfon and Bottega to prepare pick-up meals for the rest of his employees, who haven't worked since March 14.

“On the first day that we did this last week, it made me realize how much I enjoy not being on the phone and at a desk but being there and trimming vegetables and browning meat and making food with the thought that it’s for our extended restaurant family,” Stitt says. "It's a real good feeling that you are doing something worthwhile."

READ MORE: For Alabama chef Frank Stitt, a different kind of normal

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Members of the pediatric intensive care unit at USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital created colorful messages for other hospital staff on Monday during their lunch break. Posted by USA Children's & Women's Hospital on Monday, March 30, 2020

Colorful messages of encouragement at Mobile hospital

During their lunch break on Monday, members of the pediatric intensive care unit at USA Health Children’s & Women’s Hospital created colorful messages for other hospital staff.

"Tough times never last," one message said, ''but tough people do!"

Don't Edit

AL.com file/Bill Starling

Full-service gas: In Mobile, an old idea is new again

Coronavirus fears have brought the old idea of full-service fill-ups back into fashion, even where it never went out of fashion.

Griffith Service Station, a midtown Mobile institution at 1260 Government St., announced this week that it was expanding full service to all its pumps, rather than just the row closest to the station.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, gas station pumps have been identified as a touch point where people might pick up the potentially deadly virus.

“We just wanted to let people know if they’re afraid to get out and handle the pump, we can do that for them,” Stephen Griffith, who runs the 62-year-old, family-owned station with his brother Preston, said.

READ MORE: Full-service gas: COVID-19 makes old idea new again

Don't Edit

Chinese nationals donate protective gear to Huntsville medical workers

As hospitals across America scramble for the supplies doctors and nurses need to treat coronavirus patients and protect themselves, Huntsville Hospital, Decatur Morgan Hospital and the Madison Police Department are getting help from Huntsville’s two major Chinese communities.

“Soon after we learned that they are running out of masks, gowns and goggles, I started fundraising for the medical supplies,” Stephen Lin, president of the Huntsville Chinese Association, said this week. “In less than two weeks, we received $50,000 in donations from institutions and individuals."

The group used that money to purchase and donate masks, gloves, goggles and gown to medical personnel.

"When we asked for help, we got help right away," Dr. Yi Jia (above) from Huntsville Hospital's North Alabama Hospitalists group said.

READ MORE: Chinese nationals donate protective gear to Huntsville ERs

Don't Edit

Bob Hoglan was serving up barbecue in Good Hope Friday, the sign from his smoker proclaiming “Free Food” in large... Posted by The Cullman Times on Monday, March 30, 2020

Good Hope businessman offers free barbecue to truck drivers

Bob Hoglan, whose mother has driven a truck for Walmart for some 30 years, wanted to do something to help the trucking community, so he set up a smoker outside his fireworks store in the Cullman County town of Good Hope and served free barbecue to truck drivers passing through town.

"I've been hearing from them that it was tough for them to eat right now," Hoglan, a former trucker himself, told The Cullman Times. "They can't go in the restaurants and some of [the restaurants] won't let them go through the drive-thru."

READ MORE: Businessman offering free meals to truckers navigating drive-thru rules

Don't Edit

Photo by Jaime Thursby

Have peanuts, will deliver

Like many small businesses, the Alabama Peanut Company was staggered by the economic blow caused by the coronavirus outbreak, leading owner Jaime Thursby to close the little peanut shop that first opened on Birmingham's cobblestone-paved Morris Avenue in 1907.

A day after he closed, though, Thursby had an inspiration.

If his patrons couldn't come to him, he would go to them.

So he went into the delivery business, bringing roasted and boiled peanuts to the front doors of his stuck-at-home customers.

“I do feel like we’re pioneers in this,” Thursby says. “One person posted on social media, ‘Only in Alabama can I get boiled peanuts delivered to me.’”

READ MORE: 'Only in Alabama': Boiled peanuts delivered to your front door

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Madison citizens and first responders beep horns, flash lights to show love to medical workers

Flashes of red and blue illuminated the night sky as citizens and first responders showed their support to healthcare workers at Madison Hospital on Tuesday night.

Madison police said a couple hundred citizens, firefighters and officers were in the parking lot near the hospital on Highway 72 in Madison. To practice social distancing, citizens were urged to stay in their cars as they beeped their car horns and flashed their lights.

“I felt it was so important to be out there with our community to show everyone working in the hospital how grateful we all are for their extraordinary work,” James Panos, who found out about the event through the What's Happening in Madison Facebook group, said. “Also, I thought it was really important to bring my kids tonight to have them experience how powerful it is for a community to come together to help one another.”

READ MORE: Madison citizens, first responders show love to medical workers

Don't Edit

AU graduate student plays pivotal role in developing COVID-19 test

An Auburn University graduate student played a key role helping a Birmingham company that brought a COVID-19 test from development to clinic in less than two weeks and has produced more than 12,000 coronavirus tests for use in Alabama and elsewhere.

Richard Cullum (above), an AU doctoral candidate in chemical engineering who earned his bachelor’s degree at University of South Alabama, works for Assurance Scientific Laboratories in Birmingham as a member of the research and development team that created the test.

“My desire to create products that improve public health was a strong motivator for pursuing a Ph.D.,” Cullum says. “Seeing the impact of the COVID-19 test I helped develop has been extremely rewarding, especially so early in my career.”

READ MORE: Auburn University graduate student helped develop COVID-19 test widely used in Alabama

Don't Edit

Photo courtesy of Rodney Smith Jr.

More inspirational Alabama stories . . .

Alabamians who lifted our spirits this week

Alabamians who inspired us this week

In Alabama, Rodney Smith Jr. now doing 'mow and drop'

Alabama barbecue restaurant owner steps up to feed schoolkids