As the need for PPE started to rise as the weeks went on, it became apparent to Chen and Fang that they wanted to help provide some of that equipment to the hospital in their community of Oakville.
Chen and Fang saw the pandemic unfolding in China, where they lived until 15 years ago when they moved to Canada. They were paying close attention to what was happening overseas and were preparing for it to hit Canada at some point.
Chen and Fang decided at the end of March that they would begin their incredible fundraising efforts for the Oakville Hospital Foundation.
“We knew about the PPE and we knew we know how important PPE (is to) protect people,” said Chen, who lives in Oakville with her husband, Fang, and two children, aged six and nine.
“When we read the news that Canada was short of PPE, we had some communication in social media about this, lots of people are saying that we should do something.”
“When it (COVID-19) started in March, we talked about doing something because we have experience from what people have learned in China,” said Fang. “That’s how this started. Our community members knew of that as well because of the same reason so they took action very quickly.”
Chen and Fang decided at the end of March that they would begin their incredible fundraising efforts for the Oakville Hospital Foundation.
“We knew about the PPE and we knew we know how important PPE (is to) protect people,” said Chen, who lives in Oakville with her husband, Fang, and two children, aged six and nine.
The couple joined forces with six other Oakville community members and used social media to help spread the word of their goal, asking anyone to donate what they could to help raise the funds.
After just two days, the group had successfully raised an incredible $20,000. Instead of donating the money straight to the foundation, they had decided to purchase the essential protection themselves and deliver it to the hospital.
At the time, it was a challenge for anyone, including hospitals themselves, to find PPE since it was in such high demand all over the world. But that didn’t stop Chen and Fang. They exhausted all of their connections and contacts to find the necessary equipment for the hospital.
“To some degree, to raise money is not that hard, “said Fang. “To purchase PPE, to purchase the qualified PPE, was a big challenge at that time because there was no PPE in the market at that time.”
“We were lucky we got them and shipped them to the hospital,” he continued. “Because at that time, the hospital needed PPE more than anything else, more than the money itself.”
They had sent three batches of the personal protection equipment to the Oakville Hospital and the response for their extreme act of kindness was overwhelming.
“We were so encouraged when the PPE got to the hospital, we received an email from some nurses and doctors,” said Chen. “They really, really appreciated it. They sent us very touching messages that even encouraged us more.”
There was also a nurse at the hospital, who is a friend of a friend of the couple, that sent an email to Chen and Fang, explaining just how thankful she was to receive the PPE.
“She wrote an email to us, a very long email to show her appreciation,” said Fang. “And then we shared that email with all of our donors, it’s very touching. And we felt like, at the time, that what we did was very meaningful.”
Chen and Fang currently sit on the Foundation’s Community Engagement Committee. They spread the word about the Foundation and encourage more people in their community to get involved in the foundation to help local hospitals. They want to make sure that all community members know that equipment for the hospital is not funded by the government, which makes every generous donation that much more valuable and important.
“We feel truly blessed to live in such a good neighbourhood and such a great country, we are obligated to contribute to our society whenever we are needed,” said Fang. “For our friends and donors, we would like to quote Acts 20:35 “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”’
