We went live on Facebook last night and our community stepped up!
Last night, I asked my husband to take our 3 children out of the house for an hour so that I could do something I’ve never done: livestream on Facebook to my entire Oakland community.
My friend Lakisha Young and I live just about a mile apart in East Oakland, but I haven’t seen her in person in weeks given the shelter-in-place order. I got to interview her last night, both of us in our homes, about the incredible work that she’s doing leading The Oakland REACH Relief Fund.
Earlier this week, my colleagues and I at GO announced our #GOgive initiative– we’ve raised money to meet the most immediate emergency needs in our community and are asking you to join us in giving what you can. We have spent the last few days matching your donations to The Oakland REACH Relief Fund, and there are still 19 hours left for you to pitch in and double your impact. Please don’t forget to mention #GOgive in the notes of the PayPal section to make sure you get your donation matched. We’re so excited to share that there have already been 162 donors to this important need!
Lakisha shared insights into the challenges our families are facing last night – one was about how family perspective has quickly shifted from initial optimism in making it through this crisis to desperate urgency to keep the lights on at home. We also discussed the massive need as The REACH had an influx of more than 1,000 applications creating a need of more than $500,000. For now, The Oakland REACH has closed applications as they process these needs and seek more funds to support more families with basic needs. In the midst of the intensity and grief of this moment, we also found hope in affirming the love that exists in our community. Oaklanders show up for other Oaklanders as evident by the individual donors already giving.
If you didn’t get a chance to see the livestream, I hope you’ll watch and share it now. And if you haven’t yet given to The Oakland REACH Relief Fund, please do so today to get your contribution matched (be sure to put #GOgive in the PayPal notes field).
We’ll be in touch next week about other causes we’re supporting through #GOgive and we hope you’ll continue to pitch in where you can.
Please stay safe. We hope we get to see you soon.
