An online campaign to support vulnerable communities in the Greater 麻豆传媒映画area during the COVID-19 pandemic has raised more than $29,000 in a matter of days.
A group of volunteers and community members have also formed a Facebook聽group called "," which aims to聽collect food, supplies, and financial relief for their neighbours before government funding begins in April.聽 As of March 23, the group has over 27,000 members.聽
People and families in need can apply for financial aid (up to $100 per request) through an . From there, these applications are vetted by a team of volunteers who prioritize those聽deemed most vulnerable.
Organizers state that, "funds will be distributed by eTransfer or in cash through neighbourhood houses, for those without banking access."
"We have seen firsthand both how resilient this city can be 鈥� as well as how many need our help,鈥� says Yolanda Clatworthy, one of the group鈥檚 organizers. 鈥淥ur community cannot wait until April for government relief funding 鈥� people need to buy food and pay their bills today."
The GoFundme campaign聽description highlights聽that the COVID-19聽pandemic will聽disproportionately and unevenly impact different populations,聽such as migrants, racialized people, people with precarious work or insecure housing, poor people, disabled people and elders.
Clatworthy adds that, 鈥淥ur goal is to fill the immediate gap and get people funds as quickly as possible. We hope that only those with real, urgent needs will apply to receive financial aid, while we are also relying on Vancouver鈥檚 generosity聽to help us meet our target of $100,000.鈥�
鈥淭he pandemic is creating an unprecedented threat to many of the most vulnerable 鈥� including Indigenous People, people of colour, transgender and nonbinary people, and disabled people,鈥� says Avery Shannon, another of the group鈥檚 core organizers.聽
Modelled on the efforts by the , both the Facebook group and GoFundMe campaign聽build聽off the Canadian 鈥渃aremongering鈥� movement that has gained global聽attention.聽
As of Tuesday morning, the GoFundMe campaign has raised just more than $29,000 of its $100,000 goal and has been shared 1,200 times.
Find out more information about the GoFundMe campaign .
