News Dare to Care Packages 17.04.2020
We are absolutely delighted that our Challenge Your Limits ‘Dare to Care’ week has sown the seeds for a fantastic community ‘lockdown’ initiative by the students at the London School of Economics.
LJ Silverman, who chaired our ‘Dare to Care’ wellbeing panel event and who is head of LSE’s Generate programme, reports that a group of LSE students were so inspired by the themes and events of the week that they decided to create ‘Dare to Care packages’ – providing the elderly and immunocompromised who are currently self-isolating with essential items and a hand-written note – everything from tea to sanitary products to soap. The team have partnered with several household names to provide products and are appealing for volunteers to assist in various ways.
It was a tremendous response to our theme, focused on the immediate problems faced by some of the most vulnerable in our society, and we are very grateful to our parents and alumnae who have supported the project by going onto their website: www.daretocarepackages.
LJ Silverman has provided us with a recent update on the project and the difference it is making to the lives of our frontline carers and most vulnerable people:
‘I just wanted to say an enormous thankyou for sharing the news about our campaign with your school community… I’ve just managed to catch up with the team to track their more recent progress that I thought you might like to see.
Thanks so much again for both the inspiration and the follow-on support – we are super grateful.
NHS support
- Sent 1,000 hazmat suits to UCL Hospital worth >£60,000
- Donated 300 hazmat suits to Royal Hallamshire Hospital
- Sent 180 surgical masks to Battersea Field Practice
- Sent 200 masks/ hazmat suits/ N95/KN95 masks to UCL Queens Square
- Sent 80 N95/KN95 masks to a local pharmacy in Bromley
- Total value of PPE donations >£72,000
- Partnered with a syndicate to potentially get millions of PPE in the UK (suppliers secured, buyers almost finalised).
Support for elderly and immunocompromised people
- Created and delivered 160 care packages, each with enough food and essential supplies lasting ~1 week sent to care homes all around London, to marginalised groups that fall through the cracks of large-scale responses (e.g. elderly in care homes, refugees and migrants, etc.)
- Secured a 2-story warehouse in Kentish Town which currently contains over 8000 products (e.g. food, drinks, etc.). In the process of securing an additional warehouse in Bloomsbury
- Assembled a team of 140+ volunteers
- Secured huge donations from large manufacturers (e.g. 2808 cans of Vita Coco, Cheeky Panda, etc.).
Team formation
- Assembled a team of 10 people, with exceptional backgrounds in medicine, law, procurement, fundraising, entrepreneurship, delivery, outreach: https://daretocarepackages.com/team
- With a team of doctors and lawyers, developed a rigorous health and safety protocol for packing and delivery which is more robust than anything we’ve seen from grassroots organisations yet: https://daretocarepackages.com/health-and-safety-protocol/
Publicity and scale
- Been interviewed by the Associated Press.
- Nippon TV also interviewing
- Established 18 strong partnerships with charities, corporates, volunteer networks, etc. like LSE, Santander, Airtable, Buffer, Camden Council, Think and Do, etc.
- Featured on LSE’s official LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram.
- Raised >£10,000 in under one week
They now have their logistics set up, a comprehensive health and safety policy developed, a clear financial sustainability strategy, and are ready now to really scale and multiply their impact.
To find out more, please go to their website:www.daretocarepackages.com
Follow them on Twitter: @daretocarepack
or support them on crowdfunder.co.uk/daretocarepack