It's incredibly overwhelming to decide where to focus our efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yes, staying at home saves lives, but it's impossible not to think about the healthcare workers who are being forced to interact with Coronavirus patients without a mask, the nurses who are wearing trash bags to protect themselves, and the hundreds of thousands of gloves that are being hoarded instead of being sent directly to hospitals.
That's why we've decided to put a spotlight on key groups and organizations raising money for COVID-19 medical supplies. If you have the means, consider donating to one of these funds (or your local hospital!), below, to help healthcare workers on the frontlines of the crisis who are risking their lives to flatten the curve.
Center for Disease Control Foundation Coronavirus (COVID-19) Response
The Center for Disease Control is raising money for medical supplies along with deploying emergency staffing to U.S. public health agencies, increasing lab capacity, providing support to vulnerable communities, and more. Facebook doubled every donation and helped the CDC meet its $10 million match. The fundraiser is still going!
Frontline Responders Fund GoFundMe
One of the largest GoFundMe's for medical supplies is hosted by an organization known as Flexport.org, which focuses on getting critical supplies to healthcare workers. The organization helps move the supplies from the factory and get them to responders quickly and efficiently. As of press time, the GoFundMe raised more than $6 million out of its $10 million goal.
World Health Organization COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund
The World Health Organization (WHO) created a response fund to help fight the pandemic. While donations don't go solely to medical supplies, it does go towards its Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan, which includes the following according to its website:
- Putting in place activities to track and understand the spread of the virus
- Ensuring patients get the care they need
- Buying and ship essential supplies such as masks, gloves and protective wear for frontline workers
- Producing evidence based guidelines and advice, and make sure health workers and responders get the information and training to detect and treat affected patients
- Producing guidance for the general public and for particular groups on measures to take to prevent the spread and prevent themselves and others
- Accelerating efforts to develop vaccines, tests and treatments
Protective Gear for NYC Healthcare Workers GoFundMe
Two people named Adam Alpert and Erin Alpert are raising money for protective gear for NYC healthcare workers who are at the epicenter of the pandemic. They've raised more than $100,000 so far.
The city set up a temporary hospital with 1,000 beds at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City.
UCLA Patient Care and Healthcare Provider Protection Fund
UCLA started a fund to raise money for personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical professionals, as well as patient and family care, social services, and immediate response for essential equipment like ventilators.
Protect Those Who Protect Us GoFundMe
Gelareh Mizrahi, a handbag designer based on Miami, FL, is raising money to purchase PPE for hospitals across the country.
Project C.U.R.E.
Project C.U.R.E., an organization that delivers donated medical supplies and equipment to under-developed regions and has now turned its focus on COVID-19 relief efforts, is collecting life-saving equipment and supplies through its ProC.U.R.E. program. You can find volunteer opportunities here, but in the meantime you donate money towards the organization's mission, below.
MasksOn GoFundMe
The MasksOn GoFundMe is raising money to develop an alternative to standard PPE equipment: full-face snorkel masks with breathing filters. They plan to mass-produce mask adaptors through 3-D printing and then distribute them to hospitals and clinics across the country.
This post will be updated with more fundraisers as we locate them.
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