The coronavirus crisis has brought people closer together than ever. From billionaire Jack Dorsey donating $1 billion to help coronavirus efforts, to the Ohio mailman delivering essentials to high-risk people on his delivery routes, the selflessness of people gets more and more amazing. I hope the stories in today’s #FourForApril warm you as much as they did me 💚
Jack Dorsey donates $1billion to help coronavirus efforts
During these testing times many wealthy celebrities have been demonstrating their kindness by pledging incredible amounts of money to support the fight against coronavirus.
Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter and payment app Square, has taken things to a new level in donating $1bn (£810m) towards efforts to tackle the virus.
Jack said on his Twitter announcement that the donation represented approximately 28% of his wealth.
While Jack did not lay out exactly where the funds would be sent to help in the battle against Covid-19, he did outline that once “we disarm this pandemic” the focus will shift to girl’s health and education, and UBI (universal basic income).
You can read more about Jack’s remarkable donation here.
Ohio mailman is delivering essentials to communities
A 23-year-old Ohio mailman is delivering more than just letters to many of the people on his posting route.
Kyle West, who told Good Morning America that he has 917 deliveries on his daily route, first thought of the idea to help his community while shopping at Walmart.
He went to buy toilet paper and found one his customers, a 94-year-old man, standing in front of the two remaining packs on the shelf. The man walked away without taking any, telling Kyle he couldn’t afford it.
Kyle then bought his customer the toilet paper and delivered it to him the next day.
After this, Kyle posted notes in each of the 917 houses on his route that read: “If you are at risk and need help getting essential items let me know. I will do what I can to help.”
About 50 high-risk individuals responded asking Kyle for help while other neighbours offered to donate items to those in need.
Kyle is hoping that the attention his story is getting will inspire other workers on the front lines to go the extra mile for their communities.
You can read more about this lovely deed from Kyle here.
The team turning furlough into something good
As a result of coronavirus, many people, including myself, have been furloughed – meaning they are not working but are remaining employed long-term, with the government paying 80% of their wages – and it’s created a lot of free time for many of us.
With this free time, one man decided that he could spend it doing something positive for the local community.
When his South America travel plans were cut short because of the pandemic, Floris Ten Nijenhuis started to spend time cooking for NHS workers in local hospitals, and called on a friend and furloughed marketer, Chloe Hall, to join in.
Since then, his group has grown to more than 100 volunteers, and Furloughed Foodies became a new charity organisation preparing 2,100 meals every week in home kitchens and delivering them to 12 hospitals across London.
The project has so far been ran thanks to donations from the friends and family, but Furloughed Foodies hopes to raise £25,000 to allow them to continue cooking food free of charge for NHS frontline staff.
You can learn more about the incredible work of Furloughed Foodies and offer your support here.
China donates 1000 ventilators to help New York in battle against coronavirus
The Chinese government has donated 1,000 ventilators to the State of New York to help officials battle the worsening coronavirus pandemic.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said New York was conducting business with Chinese companies and cited China as a repository of essential medical equipment.
He thanked Jack Ma and Joe Tsai, founders of the Chinese e-commerce juggernaut Alibaba, as well as Huang Ping, the Chinese Consul General in New York.
Andrew Cuomo said the west coast state of Oregon had also donated 140 ventilators.
You can read more about China’s donation here.
Bonus positive
A couple built a mini art gallery for their gerbils and we love it!
Every day in April, we will be sharing four positive news stories in one post under the hashtag #FourForApril. Got any kindness stories? Send them in! We’d love the world to hear about these good deeds by good people 🙂
Thanks for reading one of our positive stories!
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