ICONE Berbagi: Relief Effort to Help Those Impacted by COVID-19 in Indonesia
Boston, 5/18/2020 - The COVID-19 pandemic has brought our entire world to a halt, including Indonesia. Not only it has claimed the lives of thousands nationwide, but it has also cut off the lifeline to millions of people in cities all over Indonesia.
With community spirit fueling high, "ICONE Berbagi" (ICONE Giving Back) fundraising program was carried out to help fellow Indonesians who are struggling to survive in their daily lives due to economic hardships resulting from this unprecedented situation. Within 2 weeks of the fundraiser, we have collected a total donation of $3,099.22 from 70 ICONEans across New England and beyond, including New York, Philadelphia, Maryland, and Virginia.
100% of the money raised was utilized to purchase hundreds of essential food (sembako) packages, each consisting of a bag of rice, eggs, instant noodles, cooking oil, sugar, tea/syrup, and other non-perishable food, as well as masks to be distributed to low-income families, day laborers, seniors living alone, and orphans in 3 cities in Indonesia: Jakarta, Medan (North Sumatera), and Pangkalpinang (Bangka Belitung). Depending on the number of people in their household, these essential packages can help sustain them for one or two weeks.
About 300 essential food packages were distributed by ICONEan friends to those in need in these cities from May 14 to May 17, 2020. Many of them have been hit hardly by the COVID-19 crisis, including daily laborers who have lost their incomes, small business owners (e.g. street food vendors, warung owners) who have gone bankrupt with no money left, recently laid-off workers, and the poor elderlies (with orphan grandchildren) who are still waiting for help from their local authorities.
We are beyond proud and grateful for the generous donations and participation that our community has shown in this relief effort. Without each and every one of you supporting "ICONE Berbagi", we would have not been able to do all this.
A special thank you to our friends in Indonesia: Reza Maulana and family in Jakarta, Yose Rizal Adha and Yayasan Pintu Sedekah in Pangkalpinang, as well as Umi Kalsum and family in Medan, for helping us with the local operation and delivery aspects of the relief.
Last but not least, thank you to ICONE's President, Olla Chas, for spearheading the effort, and ICONE team members Dhanni Setyaning (Education and Cultural Programs Director), Armaya Doremi (Social Media Marketing), and Trisia Bantacut (Treasurer) for the great synergy in managing the fundraiser.
We could not help all the millions who are currently in need, but together, we were able to offer our extended hands to hundreds of them. And for that, from the bottom of our hearts, we THANK YOU.
Together, we can.
Check out: ICONE in the News
