March 26, 2020
“Go the fu*k back to your country and die” was an insult Backpacks For The Street actually heard while sitting beside Mai Lai. She was in tears and shaking as she tried to explain to Jayson (co-founder of Backpacks For The Street) this is the new normal. Other people spat on Mai Li and cursed at her as well as blame her for the coronavirus because of her race.
This story came to light because of Backpacks For The Street. According to their Facebook page, they’re “a public charity, and national grassroots movement to bring compassion and dignity to people living on the streets, by providing backpacks filled with life necessities for someone who is homeless, including food, clothing, toiletries, hygiene products, gloves, and Mylar emergency thermal blankets in winter, handbooks with a complete listing of food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters, and much more. Since March, BFTS has given out more than 1,500 packs, 3,000 pairs of socks, over 12,000 maxi-pads and tampons, and we are on schedule to exceed our goal of 5,000 blankets this winter.”
Mai Li’s story was devastatingly sad to begin with, but now it’s compounded by the fact she’s Chinese and bearing the brunt of the blame for the coronavirus because she’s homeless, old, and helpless and the perfect target for cruel, heartless people. “The Pain is real. The heartbreak is real. The discrimination is real,” stated Backpacks For The Street.
But so too is the help and the hope that Backpacks For The Street is able to give Mai Li, her granddaughter and others who are homeless on the street and struggling to survive, but who also have no access to COVID fighting necessities, which we are able to provide, and did provide, along with a backpack of toiletries, food and other items.
THIS is why we are out there day and night taking care of these kids and folks who are homeless and struggling on the streets, just trying to stay alive.
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Feature Image via Facebook