Giving Tuesday is for Crushing COVID

Today is Giving Tuesday, a global day of giving back, and we invite you to join this global generosity movement by supporting the CDC Foundation and our COVID-19 response. Giving Tuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea: a day to encourage people to do good. Over the years, Giving Tuesday has grown into a global movement that inspires hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate and celebrate generosity.

This year, more than ever because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the needs are great, and the CDC Foundation is working with donors and partners to save lives and help end the pandemic. This Giving Tuesday, it is time to unite together to Crush COVID.

The formation of the COVID-19 Corps is just one example of how CDC Foundation is working hard to Crush COVID.

One group within the COVID-19 Corps have become known in Pennsylvania public-health circles as “The Super Tracers.” This tight-knit team of 10 COVID-19 Corps members didn’t know each other before they became part of the CDC Foundation’s initiative to assist local, state and other health departments staff up to fight the pandemic. But as the first paid contact tracers hired for the COVID-19 response in the state, they encountered process issues that quickly brought them together to develop solutions they could implement and pass along to an appreciative Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Team member Holly Charest has a theory about their group’s success. “Our willingness to share information with each other is what makes us cohesive and makes us stand out. We just connect, we just all connect, and I think it's wonderful.” The CDC Foundation contact tracing staff has served as the pioneer team for our expanded contact tracing infrastructure.

Your gift today will help fuel the CDC Foundation’s programs in the United States and around the world aimed at helping end the pandemic. Your gift will empower the CDC Foundation to Crush COVID by investing in:

  • HEALTH EQUITY: The virus has taken a disproportionate toll on racial and ethnic minority groups. We are working with partners to better understand and address health inequity issues brought forward by COVID-19, as well as provide on-the-ground support to meet crucial needs such as housing, clean water, handwashing stations, food and medical necessities.
     
  • THE FRONTLINES: Public health departments, healthcare and long-term care facilities are working around the clock to fight the pandemic. Frontline responders need personal protective equipment, surge staff, laboratory support, prevention control and communications support.
     
  • HEALTH PROTECTION CAMPAIGNS: If all of us model the three Ws—wearing a mask, watching our distance (social distancing) and washing our hands—we can help control the spread of COVID-19 and protect millions of lives. We need to reach every community with messages like these to Crush COVID.

The time is now to Crush COVID through your Giving Tuesday gift. All of us together will help usher in a better, healthier, more united world.



Judy Monroe
Judy Monroe, MD, is president and CEO of the CDC Foundation.