Kate Kotlyar staff writer
Break the Outbreak (BTOB) is here to help just in time as COVID-19 cases peak again. 
BTOB is a nationwide 501(c)(3) non profit organization with 43 chapters located in 17 different states across the United States, including the Beverly Hills chapter. Immaculate Heart High School junior Sabrina Camua founded the BH chapter over the summer. BTOB aims to make and to deliver personal protective equipment (PPE) to communities and local businesses.
Camua discovered the organization through a summer program and was “interested” in joining. 
“I was already making masks and stuff. I wanted to help the community because COVID-19, at the time when I started [the Beverly Hills chapter], was really bad and I felt like this was a good way to [help]. It’s peaking again so we’re gonna have to continue to do our work. I’m just glad that we can help those who need the personal protective equipment [and] don’t have it,” Camua said.
Volunteer and BHHS junior Lauren Min joined BTOB because she wanted to help “make people’s lives just a little bit easier.” 
“We’re just wanting to help people out. Honestly, how can you not want to help out, especially when you see all this news coverage about people who are suffering through this pandemic? I feel like people should join because they want to see a change, or make people’s lives easier. This pandemic is happening and it’s so real,” Min said.
Volunteers such as BTOB Communications Officer and Beverly junior Chloe Levine, volunteer and Beverly sophomore Margaret Huynh, Min and Camua, all feel “proud,” “happy,” and “good” about the work they do for BTOB. 
“[Working for BTOB] makes me feel proud because this is a really hard time for a lot of people and for the whole country. [With] every mask that I make, I know I’m helping somebody—that’s going to be in somebody’s hands and it makes me feel happy and proud,” Levine said. 
Unlike her fellow volunteers, BTOB Financial Officer and Beverly junior Tina Yang feels “pressured.”
“It makes me feel a bit pressured to make sure that everything goes well [and] making sure that we’re doing good work instead of possibly not getting much done. But at the same time, it’s rewarding to know that I have some effect on what can happen [and] that we might be able to benefit someone’s life, even if it’s just a little bit. So, of course there’s a bit of pressure to make sure that we’re doing well, but if we are doing well, that’s great,” Yang said. 
BTOB Marketing Officer and Beverly junior Jennifer Li believes that BTOB is “making a difference.”
Volunteer and Beverly junior Chris Zomber agrees with Li because all the volunteers are “working towards a common goal,” which gives him a “sense of community.”
“I know that there are other kids who are in my class who joined. I definitely see a lot of other [students] being pretty dedicated as well. There are people who are spending a lot of time and who really care about the movement, which I think is really good for everybody,” he said. “The more people who actually start helping and [doing] hands-on activity… is what we need because that will help end this whole virus. The fastest way is if everybody gets off their butt[s].”
To join the Beverly Hills chapter of Break the Outbreak, click here.
To donate to Break the Outbreak, click here.