Orla Cummaford-Roberts, a second-year student at Greenlawn Harbourfields High School, has been making gem-studded "angel" keychains as a symbol of hope to be distributed to essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Image source: Harborfields School District

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a student at Harborfields High School is ensuring that basic workers in the area are equipped with "angels."

Orla Cummaford-Roberts, a sophomore at Greenlawn School, has been helping to make and distribute jeweled angel keychains as a symbol of comfort and hope for frontline workers on Long Island. She also created a website to promote keychains.

The project is called the "COVID Angel Project" and was initiated last spring by Charlotte Rhee, a plastic surgeon based in Huntington. She brought the key chain to the COVID-19 ward while she was a volunteer at Huntington Hospital. Camerford-Roberts' mother Angela is a nurse in the operating room of the hospital.

"We all need to work together to achieve the common goal of getting everyone back on their feet," said 16-year-old Cummaford-Roberts, a student of the Centerport Fire Department and a member of her school's indoor orchestra and robotics club.

The keychains—about 20,000 have been manufactured since the beginning of the project—are made using various beads, wires, and wings. Roberts said that each piece was slightly different, and the angel was blessed by the Reverend Long Island and the rabbi.

"She is an amazing young lady," Rhee said of Cummaford-Roberts. "We are proud to know her."

Those interested in requesting an angel or angel making kit can visit the COVID Angels Project website covidangelsproject.godaddysites.com.

The pandemic changed education on Long Island. Learn how.

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Michael Ebert is an education researcher and has been working for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He is a member of the 11-person team of finalists for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize and is responsible for investigating and reporting on the security issues of the LIRR platform.

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