Down in the state of Georgia, unemployment hit a historic high at 11.9%. Bustling cities like Atlanta, too, have seen shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), making it difficult for hospitals and healthcare institutions there to procure enough to meet the demand.

For several days on the second floor of Tzu Chi’s New York regional office, volunteers arrived in shifts to prepare 600 special gifts before May 8th. These gifts were for the dedicated nurses who work at three hospitals in the New York metropolitan area in celebration of International Nurses Day on May 12th, 2020.

People around the world are anxious and afraid due to the widespread impact of the novel coronavirus outbreak. However, in comparison to other U.S. cities, especially New York, the COVID-19 situation in Austin, Texas, has not been severe.

Tzu Chi USA volunteers in Northern California had begun mobilizing a response in March, setting up their NorCal PPE Project Team mid-month, to take charge of procuring PPE for distribution. The team’s goal is to respond to hospitals’ PPE supply needs promptly to effectively support frontline healthcare workers.

Tzu Chi USA’s Service Center in St. Louis, Missouri, offers floral arranging classes that create wonderful connections between Tzu Chi volunteers and their students, which can blossom in unexpected ways.

When Tzu Chi Medical Foundation CEO Dr. William Keh received a shipment of 240 N95 respirators from Tzu Chi Northeast, he placed a call to Ken Larsen. In little over an hour, Mr. Larsen had arrived at their office in Alhambra with a special mission: to find N95 respirators for his daughter Heather, an intensive care unit nurse at the Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, CA.