Send essentials to vulnerable people and the NHS!

COVID-19 has forced older and immunocompromised people into isolation. We are keeping them safe from going outdoors by sending essential items like food and hygiene products and pick-me-ups like handwritten notes and chocolates to help ease the effects of isolation.

Who are we?

Dare to Care Packages is a simple and transparent platform for inputting needs and providing donations. Dare to Care Packages collects donated essentials to make care packages that are directly delivered to loved ones and neighbours in isolation, especially people who are not captured by the services of food banks and charities. Care packages consist of something useful (toilet paper, shampoo), something scrummy and consumable for a week (pasta, canned goods), and something nice (chocolate, a thoughtful note) to help with the effects of isolation.

What have we achieved so far?

Two weeks since launching, we attracted:

• ~300 care packages to people in need, with each package containing enough food for a week (UPDATED 15/04/2020)
• Donated over 10,000 PPE to medical staff on the frontline (worth over £100,000) (UPDATED 30/04/2020)
• Over 140 volunteers
• Over £20,000 in funding
• Secured a 2-story warehouse, with over 10,000 products
• Established 20 strong partnerships with charities, corporates, and Higher-education institutions

Our partnerships include organisations and sponsors such as LSE, Camden Council, and Santander. We have a team of trained volunteer drivers and are also in talks with major food delivery partners and working with volunteers for faster turnaround and reach across London and beyond.

Why are we crowdfunding?

Each care package costs £5 to assemble and deliver and lasts for a week. We are launching this Crowdfunder to help our fast-acting organization by: 

• Supporting our delivery infrastructure by training and reimbursing our volunteer drivers to ensure swift delivery that is compliant with our safety and sanitation code developed by experts
• Acquire additional stock of essential items to supplement donations to ensure needs are met. We will work to source produce from restaurants and shops which are on pause to help cut their losses.

Deliveries are being made daily. Our team of experienced entrepreneurs worked with qualified medical physicians and lawyers and developed a comprehensive health and safety protocol of the highest standard for packing and delivery.

Extreme times sparks extreme kindness; support us to protect the most vulnerable.

Partners

Our Team

Dare to Care Packages (DtCP) is started by: 

Jon Lo is a serial social entrepreneur (Kairos, Fika Foods, ATLAS), data scientist, web developer, and automation/ AI consultant. He ensures that DtCP’s platforms run smoothly and that DtCP is scalable through the use of the latest technologies. He also ensures that delivery logistics works smoothly. 

Josephine Liang is a serial social entrepreneur (DayOld, CauliBox, Fika Foods) and sustainability campaigner. She works on DtCP's strategy and ensures that DtCP’s operations run smoothly on-the-ground, liaising with suppliers and volunteers, bringing immense passion and dedication to the team. 

Jon and Josephine are supported by: 

Director of Operations: Stephanie Cantor is a certified project management professional and our team’s energizer. She comes from a background in management consulting and social innovation. She manages the warehouse, coordinating volunteers and ensuring that DtCP operates under medical and legal compliance. 

Fundraising/ Outreach: Katya Berezovskaia is the founder of WeExchange, a global charity initiative for exchange students active in seven countries, and has experience in investment banking and VC. She helps DtCP with fundraising and outreach. 

Outreach: Kyle Soo is a lawyer by day and organiser of Manchester’s PechaKucha talks by night. He is also a Lego® Serious Play® facilitator and participated in the Year Here social innovation programme in 2017 and continues to develop his passion for service and legal design.

Medical advisor/ NHS donation coordinator: Dr. Carol Chan graduated from the University College London Medical School. She is commencing her academic foundation programme training at Ipswich hospital. She helped develop our health and safety protocols, to ensure all our operations - ranging from packing to delivery - operate at the highest level of medical standards. She keeps us up-to-date on the medical perspective of COVID-19.

NHS donation coordinator: Mingqiao Zhao is an experienced researcher in economics & geopolitics, particularly China-MENA trade and investment relationships; she is also a Belt & Road Initiative specialist. As a veteran entrepreneur with extensive business development experience, she is responsible for outreaching and coordinating PPE donations, especially from Chinese nationals in the UK.

Legal Advisor: Richard Robison is the Founder of legal tech start-up Robin AI. Before Robin, Richard was a lawyer at Clifford Chance and Boies Schiller Flexner. In addition, Richard has advised numerous companies and charities on pro bono work. He ensures DtCP remains legally compliant in an ever-changing legal landscape.

Delivery Coordinator: Tamar White is a barista and food business manager, with over 10 years of experience; she is also an environmental activist. She helps us devise and execute our guidelines through her extensive knowledge of health and safety protocols. 

Delivery Coordinator: Aaron Fallon is an experienced sales manager and entrepreneur. He is using his expertise to help us coordinate and manage deliveries all across London, to get our packages to recipients in a timely and efficient manner.

We are also supported by LSE Generate:

LSE Generate is LSE's home for entrepreneurship, supporting students and alumni to build a socially responsible business, here in the UK and across the world.