PPE packages from Dare to Care being delivered
LSE Generate supported scheme, Dare to Care Packages (DtCP), has sent over 10,000 PPE items - worth over £100,000 - to NHS workers in just over three weeks.
The Dare to Care Packages campaign, set up by entrepreneurs Jon Lo and Jo Liang, is being supported through the LSE Generate Founderships Programme.
During their launch week at the end of March 2020, the Dare to Care team raised over £10,000 and donated £24,800 worth of Hazmat suits to UCL hospital.
Since then, they have sent out thousands more PPE items – including masks, aprons, suits and gloves - to NHS staff. Last week alone, they sent around 4,000 items to a GP partnership in a COVID-19 hot hub (an area with a high concentration of cases) and nearly 1,000 masks and visors to nine hospitals around London.
As well as sending vital PPE equipment to NHS workers, the team have also delivered over 300 personalised care items to isolated people in the community. These include vulnerable women with frequent address changes and immunocompromised people on the verge of qualifying for official help.
These packages have supplied vulnerable groups, who normally fall through the cracks in large-scale charity responses, with essential items such as staple food and hygiene products as well as ‘pick-me-up’ gifts and hand-written notes.
Part of Dare to Care’s innovation centre in Kentish Town (provided by Camden Council and LSE Generate) has also been transformed into a PPE printing station for a partner 3D printing company. This has enabled the company, who are currently supplying dozens of hospitals regularly, to double their production capacity.
Commenting on their ongoing work, Jon Lo and Jo Liang said: LSE’s support jumpstarted DtCP, but your support will sustain it. This is our ‘all hands on deck’ moment – we need your help to win against COVID-19.”
LJ Silverman, Head of LSE Generate, added: "In the midst of a lot of uncertainty and anxiety, it's been incredibly heartening to see our students and alumni utilising their skills, network and creativity to react to the crisis and create such impressive and impactful results. They've embodied everything LSE is about, from understanding the immediate problem, to designing innovative solutions, for the betterment society. It's a true honour to be able support them."
For more information about Dare to Care Packages or to donate to the scheme, please visit their website daretocarepackages.com
Dare to Care have been supported in their work by numerous organisations including Camden Council, Airtable, Santander, Ada Ventures, NatWest, LSE, Crowdfunder and more.