In 2012, Giving Tuesday was launched as a simple idea – to create a day that encourages people to do good. But in 2020, Giving Tuesday has an entirely new meaning.
As the impact of COVID-19 continues to change our world, the needs of our community are all around us. Health, financial, social and emotional well-being, scarcity of basic supplies…the list goes on.
This year, Giving Tuesday will take place on May 5, 2020, and according to organizers, it will serve as a global day of unity in response to the unprecedented needs caused by COVID-19. It’s a chance for people around the globe to come together and give back to their local community.
COVID-19 quickly changed the world’s priorities and brought into focus the disparities that create challenges for vulnerable populations. At Hope Through Housing, our focus shifted to the immediate needs of the children, families, and seniors living in our communities. It became our highest priority to make sure that we were doing everything we could to ensure their safety, health, and well-being.
The needs are very real for the more than 25,000 National CORE residents we serve – homebound seniors and disabled individuals are alone and scared with limited support, our youth are out of school, doing their best to stay on top of their studies, missing their routine and friends, while quarantined in their apartments, and families are dealing with financial struggles caused by the loss of jobs, reduced hours, and limited income to meet their basic needs.
In response, the Hope through Housing Team has stepped in to do what we can – distributing weekly groceries and prepared meals to thousands of seniors and families, taking the time to call seniors and other vulnerable residents to check on their well-being, providing individual resource assistance, distributing more than 1,500 masks to seniors, and offering virtual counseling to residents struggling financially during this time.
And we have just started. The needs continue to grow and change, and we are adapting our response accordingly. And without a dedicated team of partners – including individuals and institutions – none of this work would be possible.
This Giving Tuesday, I ask you to remember the children, families, and seniors who are struggling and include the Hope through Housing Foundation as one of the organizations you support. All donations will provide immediate support to thousands of low-income children, families, and seniors during this time of crisis and help facilitate resiliency in the coming months.
Dorotea Manuel, one of our senior residents, recently told a reporter, “This is such a great place for seniors. We are family here, and I know I am safe. I just pray to the Lord that I can have strength. It has been a trial for all of us.”
We hope you will join Hope through Housing’s efforts to give our children, families, and seniors the strength to persevere, the essential items they need to survive, and the emotional support to overcome challenges and tribulations with a greater sense of hope and gratitude!
Donate now at COVID-19 Emergency Response & Resilience Fund (this will be a link) or get involved by visiting www.hopethroughousing.org.