Rapid Response Fund for COVID-19
Dear Global Force for Healing Family,
As we are sheltering at home, homeschooling our children, waiting in lines for food and supplies we had long taken for granted, our livelihoods and our physical & mental health are being threatened. It is only natural to be feeling stress, anxiety, fear, and/or overwhelm as we have perhaps never experienced personally and collectively.
Global Force for Healing has heard the call from our global community partners in 10 countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas where the global pandemic is just beginning. Imagine being a pregnant woman with other children and elders for whom you’re caring. You’re sitting around the campfire or tending your garden feeling more vulnerable than ever. You’re wondering how your family and local midwifery center or grassroots clinic are possibly going to handle this newest emergency.
You’ve long experienced the “invisible pandemic” of poverty, food scarcity and disease, constant companions for you and your family. Will our global family be there to help us through? How can we share what we know about resilience and the power of making do with what we have--or can create with our own hands?
Global Force for Healing, has reached out to our Compassionate Birth Network partners in grassroots communities to better understand their needs and ask, “How can we support you”? The answer is clear: Establish a Rapid Response Fund! This is the first time we’ve had an emergency fund to offer modest, unrestricted grants for whatever partner communities need at this critical time. The Fund is overseen by our Board and a selection committee to streamline requests from our Network Partners.
To give you an idea of current urgent priorities:
*Medicine and birth-related supplies; birth kits and newborn kits for new parents;
* Funds to transport goods to midwifery centers and clinics--an extra challenge and expense now that many borders and airports are closed;
*Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)—just like other global health care workers need;
*Additional assistance to ensure clean water and sanitation;
*Assistance for community education and promotion of healthy practices;
* COVID-19 test kits when they become available.
This is our moment to declare ourselves Global Forces for Healing! Will you please join us in caring for our global family, as we are caring for our local families? Now more than ever we are in this together. NOW is the moment to help love go viral!
Thank you for your heartfelt consideration. This is the moment we have been waiting for. Will you join me in stepping up?
With love as the force,
Kay