Covid-19 Relief: How to help through other organizations

Our world is in a strange, uncomfortable place at the moment and we are all feeling it, in different ways. It’s important for us all to take precautions and be diligent in what we’re doing to keep ourselves and those around us safe. Remember that it’s temporary and while the feeling of being in your home all day, everyday might get tiresome, it’s temporary.

Being in this situation has given me pause. For many of us, the ability to work from home is easy - we have access to tech, internet, monitors, etc. Our fridges are full, we have sun shining through our windows and we’re able to get through the day. Our TVs are prepped with subscriptions so we can have leisure time. We have tablets, e-readers and books to pleasure read. We have space in our homes or backyards to do at-home workouts. All in all, we have comfortable setups. Adding on, our doctors, nurses and emergency response personnel are on the front lines, putting themselves in the thick of it, for the greater good - they are heroes!

This is not the situation for everyone. This is what has given me pause - I feel for the people who depend on jobs that truly require their physical presence, for kids who rely on school lunches, for people in less developed parts of the world who are trying to manage this situation with far less. The reality is, the majority of us have it good amid a global scare. We must be diligent, smart and thoughtful towards others.

With that, we’ve put together a list of organizations focused on Covid-19 relief around the world, in various ways. You'll see global orgs, local, food focused, children-focused, etc. I encourage you to scroll through and see what resonates with you. Donating towards these is an easy, quick way to help do our part in helping to ease this situation around the world. While many people have bought multiple canned food items and hoarded toilet paper rolls, the problems around the world are so much bigger. Take a sec to read about these orgs & donate where you can, towards what you feel connected to. If you can afford to stash food during this time, you can afford to help someone else a bit too.

If you have additions or suggestions for the list below, please feel free to reach out. The more, the better.

Love, 
Raisa

Direct Relief
Donate here.

Direct Relief is coordinating with public health authorities, nonprofit organizations and businesses in the U.S., China and globally to provide personal protective equipment and essential medical items to health workers responding to coronavirus (COVID-19). In the U.S., Direct Relief is delivering protective masks – along with exam gloves and isolation gowns – to health care organizations in areas with confirmed COVID-19 cases. Direct Relief is also staging personal protective equipment with regional response agencies across the world, including in the Caribbean and South America through the Pan American Health Organization.

Child Foundation - Iran
Donate here.

Navigating the Iranian economy is challenging and, all the more so for an American organization abiding by US sanction regulations amidst the coronavirus outbreak. Child Foundation is addressing an escalating situation in Iran. Reports from various provinces of Iran indicate that many hospitals are facing a shortage of medical equipment and facilities are under tremendous pressure with a huge number of lives at stake. According to the Ministry of Health statistics, the total number of people infected since the outbreak has increased to almost 15,000, and the total number of deaths has reached 850. Thus, Iran, after China and Italy, ranks third in the world for virus victims.

Child Foundation is collaborating with Razi Health Foundation, Razifoundation.org, of New York to address this urgent need. Based on reports from our on-the-ground Iranian sister organization and the assessment from Iranian-American medical and research communities, they aim to provide test kits and essential ICU supplies for fragile patients in dire need. Razi Health Foundation, with the financial assistance of Child Foundation, has secured twenty ventilators and 5,000 face shields for medical professionals. These are expected to be shipped by Friday, March 20. The equipment is expensive. For example, each ventilator costs as much as $7,000 and there is a need for at least 400. Test kits are also badly needed in large quantities. All donated medical items will go directly to the Iranian Red Crescent Society ( احمر هلال Helal-e-Ahmar), the Iranian NGO equivalent of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Center for Disease Philanthropy
Donate here. 

The CDP COVID-19 Response Fund will focus on supporting local nonprofit organizations working in areas identified as having high numbers of affected individuals and those who are working with the most vulnerable populations in these areas to help build their capacity for response. These will include social service organizations focused on supporting hourly wage earners, workers in the gig economy, immigrant/New American populations, older adults, people with disabilities and other communities vulnerable to the physical health, mental health and economic impacts of the pandemic.

American Muslim Community Foundation
Donate here.

Hosted by American Muslim Community Foundation in partnership with a coalition of leaders from across the nonprofit sector, The COVID-19 Response Fund for Nonprofits will provide flexible financial resources to organizations across the country working with minority communities who are disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus outbreak. One-time operating grants will help fund organizations that have had to cancel events which will impact their operational budget. 

Feeding America
Donate here.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, Feeding America is committed to serving communities and individuals facing hunger across America, wherever they are.
Find your local food bank here.

UNRWA - Palestine & near east
Donate here.

UNRWA has developed an Agency-wide COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan. This plan is based on WHO guidelines. It defines eight (8) priority steps and actions (8 pillars). Actions taken, relevant to UNRWA operations and services, are based on this structure. During this unprecedented health challenge, the Palestine refugee community can be among the most affected due to living in over populated areas.

Medical Aid - Palestine/Lebanon
Donate here.

Currently there are 30 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the occupied Palestinian territory. The latest local updates from the World Health Organization (WHO) are available on their website here.
The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced a 30-day "state of emergency" on March 5th, closing schools, restricting non-essential travel between areas, and canceling foreign tourist reservations and international conferences. 

WHO - World Health Organization
Donate here.

The World Health Organization is leading and coordinating the global effort, supporting countries to prevent, detect, and respond to the pandemic.
The greatest need right now is to help ensure all countries are prepared, especially those with the weakest health systems. Donations support WHO’s work to track and understand the spread of the virus; to ensure patients get the care they need and frontline workers get essential supplies and information; and to accelerate efforts to develop vaccines, tests, and treatments.
The fund will enable WHO to:

• Send essential supplies such as personal protective equipment to frontline health workers
• Enable all countries to track and detect the disease by boosting laboratory capacity through training and equipment.
• Ensure health workers and communities everywhere have access to the latest science-based information to protect themselves, prevent infection and care for those in need.
• Accelerate efforts to fast-track the discovery and development of lifesaving vaccines, diagnostics and treatments

The Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan outlines a funding need of at least US$675 million for critical response efforts in countries most in need of help through April 2020. As this outbreak evolves, funding needs are likely to increase. 

UNICEF
Donate here.

Unicef has been working closely with Government authorities and WHO since the onset of the outbreak. Their actions to prevent the spread of disease have included launching handwashing campaigns across the region to improve preventative practices amongst children and the general public.
Across East Asia and the Pacific region, Unicef is providing personal protection for health workers; hygiene materials for thousands of schools, public health facilities and other public places; and support with health education messaging. This includes essential health worker supplies such as goggles, surgical gowns, face masks and disposable gloves. Just £11 can help provide 430 pairs of disposable gloves for health workers, while £33 could help provide 35 surgical masks to help prevent the spread of disease.

Noah's Ark Children's Learning Center
Donate here.

Due to the pandemic outbreak of COVID-19, Noah's Ark daycare center is trying to do its part to flatten the curve by closing doors to help contain the spread of the coronavirus. 
With no children attending our facility, it will be very difficult to keep doors open for the foreseeable future without help from the community.
The funds we raise will go to ensuring that staff are still able to get their salaries that they so heavily depend on for their livelihood. 
Noah's Ark also aims to find alternative arrangements for parents who are unable to stay home from work, such as healthcare providers, who need a safe place for their children while they are working.

Alameda County Community Food Bank
Donate here.

Supporting families & children in the Alameda County area who rely on school/services for daily meals.

Second Harvest Silicon Valley
Donate here.

During public health crises like the COVID-19 outbreak, kids and families on the brink of poverty are disproportionately impacted. When schools are closed and hourly wages are scaled back, the service we provide is even more critical. Second Harvest is facing unprecedented challenges, with mass volunteer cancellations and distribution networks shutting down.
Now more than ever, Second Harvest of Silicon Valley needs support to make sure anyone who needs a healthy meal can get one. They’ve launched an emergency fund with Sheryl Sandberg and Tom Bernthal, John and Eileen Donahoe, Mike Schroepfer and Erin Hoffmann, Bill and Amy Gurley, Scott Cook and Signe Ostby, and Reid Hoffman. Every $1 donated becomes $2, thanks to a generous match by Tom Bernthal and Sheryl Sandberg.

United Way
Donate here.

In Massachusetts, 2 in 5 workers lack sufficient savings to withstand a sudden loss in wages. With public events, schools and workplaces shuttering as the pandemic unfolds, hourly, low-wage workers will experience unprecedented financial hardship. The problem is acute for hospitality workers, retail workers, and other hourly workers, many living paycheck to paycheck, with no clear options for recouping lost wages.   Additionally across the Commonwealth, several hundred thousand children rely on federally funded school-based programs for one, two or more meals each day. As schools close across the Commonwealth, the demand for food assistance will increase for these children and their families.

Greater Boston Food Bank
Donate here.

Support for Boston communities to ensure there is enough food during this time.
 
Project Bread
Donate here.

Donate now to support Project Bread’s rapid response to the effects that Covid-19 is having on public health and the economy—already in effect, so no one goes hungry.

Seattle Foundation 
Donate here.

A coalition of philanthropy, government, and business partners has joined together to create a COVID-19 Response Fund that will rapidly deploy resources to community-based organizations at the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak in the Puget Sound region.

No Kid Hungry
Donate here.

As schools close in response to the coronavirus, hungry kids are losing the food they depend on. For many, it’s the only healthy food they receive in a given day.
Join here to urge the Senate to pass a bill with funding that allows families to feed their kids during this coronavirus pandemic.
Millions of vulnerable children are losing the healthy meals they depend on as the coronavirus closes schools nationwide.

PennyAppeal
Donate here.
100% of fundraising proceeds from this campaign will be used to support struggling low-income families who are impacted by the current shutdown. Though this is a Muslim-led campaign, PennyAppeal welcomes friends of all faiths to contribute (all donations are tax-deductible). 

UFD Organisation
Donate here.
Coronavirus, Medical Masks for Needy in World - starting this non-for-profit campaign fundraising for medical resources such as the N95 masks to protect the public and health professionals.

The Islamic Food Bank of Toledo 
Donate here. 
Food Pantry for Families in Need in Northwest Ohio - aiming to feed hungry kids and families in northwest Ohio impacted by the coronavirus emergency

IUR (Islamic Ummah Relief)
Donate here.
In North Carolina, , Gov. Roy Cooper Saturday announced an executive order to stop mass gatherings of more than 100 people. He also directed that K-12 public schools across the state close for at least two weeks, beginning March 16. Many families have been affected here in North Carolina and your support is needed to bring relief to these families.
Funds raised will be distributed to all ethnic and religious backgrounds that have been affected based on the amount we raise

ONSUR
Donate here.
CORONAVIRUS emergency appeal for refugees. The primary goal of Onsur is to prevent the refugees and internally displaced families in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon from COVID-19 outbreak through hygiene promotion and provide them with hygiene kits and healthy instructions.

SMILE for Charity
Donate here.
SMILE and Faith NYC is launching an emergency response team to provide emergency food assistance to families impacted by the coronavirus. We are seeking to raise at least $5k for an initial purchase of staple food items that will be delivered weekly to families and seniors in quarantine. 

Save the Refugees
Donate here. 
Focused on support for Rohingya refugees during Coronavirus outbreak

Wide Angle Foundation
Donate here. 
Bangladesh announced the first confirmed coronavirus cases in the country after three people tested positive for the infectious virus in the capital Dhaka on March 8, 2020. Panicked citizens rushed to pharmacies across whole country demanding hygiene items which prices skyrocketed almost immediately. The prices of N95 masks jumped high due to suppliers' increase in price. Many people cannot afford any preventive items. Knowing that most of the Bangladeshis are poor, crowded and lack basic hygiene knowledge, they are the most susceptible to diseases like COVID-19.
 

Help Italy:

Islamic Relief Italy
Red Cross Italy
Supplies for Florence
Milan Hospital
Support artists & independents
Support for Italian hospitals