While sports are on pause because of the Coronavirus Pandemic, my family and I are trying to fill the void as we wait for the opportunity to go to games and for my sons to get back on the field. Sure, part of our day is grabbing a football or a whiffle bat and ball to have a little fun in the backyard, but there’s also been an opportunity to help out in our community.

The local school district has set up a food pantry, so my wife bought some items from a local store to off at the pantry. Our community is very family-oriented and a great example of that is how everyone supports local high school and middle school sports, youth football and little league baseball, so it’s no surprise that our community has really stepped up with these efforts for the food pantry.

While many businesses have shut down, many local restaurants are still open and are offering pick-up or delivery options. It’s very important to help out these local businesses, so we’re ordering some meals from some of our favorite places. We’re enjoying those meals, but of course, we’re looking forward to the time when we can go out for breakfast, lunch or dinner as a family.

A friend of mine opened up a new sports-themed restaurant right before the COVID-19 outbreak, and we’ve made the short drive to his place a few times to pick up lunch. My and his restaurant are also donating and delivering food to local frontline workers. A local sports apparel company teamed up with his restaurant to sell sports-themed towels, encouraging fans to wash their hands. The sale of each towel went towards a meal for a frontline worker. Of course, my family purchased a few!

My wife and I make a couple of trips to the supermarket each week taking all of the necessary precautions by wearing facemasks and gloves. Before we go to the store, we’ll check with my in-laws a couple of towns over and with a neighbor or two of ours that may not be able to get to the supermarket, because they’re high-risk for infection to see if they need anything. We’ll drop off whatever they need on the front lawn or porch, so they never come in contact with us. It’s the right thing to do and also gives us a chance to chat with them from the car or from the safe distance of six feet away.

Our community is known for packing our high school football stadium on Friday nights, for supporting our younger athletes on the football and baseball fields, basketball courts and hockey rinks, and for cheering on our local professional and college teams. Right now, our sports activity is limited to playing catch with our kids at home, sport-themed videogames, and watching some classic sports games that are being shown on television. But, our community is also known for being a family.

And during this time, it's important for a family to stay together, even though some of us have to be apart.    

Peter is a sports anchor for the CBS Sports Radio Network, FOX News Headlines 24/7 and WCBS 880 Radio in New York.  His son Bradley plays middle school football on Long Island and is a participant in the U.S. National Team program while his younger son Jared plays flag football.   Peter, his wife Sheryl, and the boys are busy cheering on the New York Jets when they’re not at a youth football field.