In just five days with the help of a GoFundMe site, Howard County’s Chinese American community raised $11,000, delivering a trunkload of protective gear to county police officers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
The act of generosity, Jean Xu said, was triggered by the department’s response to concerns that Chinese Americans were the targets of racial abuse.
Twice earlier this year, members of the county’s Chinese American Parent Association said people lashed out at them in public, said Xu, the group’s president.
“One lady walking in her neighborhood heard someone yell, ‘You brought this virus to our country!'” Xu said. “And a customer in a Chinese restaurant yelled, ‘Go back to China!’ to the owner.”
Xu met with county police chief Lisa Myers about the incidents, saying that “our community fears for its safety not only from the virus, but also from these comments.” She relayed Myers’ assurances at a group meeting.
The story would have ended there — except that Xu and her members, 600 strong, decided to help the cops during the crisis.
“We decided right then, as a community, to support the police so they can take care of us,” Xu said.
What did the officers need? The medical gear vital to first responders. That included 9,000 pairs of nitrile exam gloves and four 1-gallon containers of hand sanitizer, purchased online and from area wholesale stores. Donations also included 450 face masks, most from the Grace Chinese Christian Church of Elkridge. Xu, 50, found them boxed neatly on the doorstep of her home in Ellicott City and delivered them all.
Chief Myers acknowledged the gifts in a statement:
“Our members truly appreciate this kind of tremendous support,” the chief said. “At a time when public safety agencies are doing our best to keep our first responders protected, CAPA generously provided [equipment].
“We could not be more thankful.”
Since then, Xu’s group has given more masks and hand sanitizer to the police, the county fire department, a local food bank and the Grassroots Crisis Intervention Center in Columbia. On five occasions, the CAPA purchased 350 meals from two area restaurants and delivered them to caregivers at Howard County General Hospital.
“We’re all in this together. We’ve got to fight this as one instead of blaming each other,” Xu said. “And we don’t want [front-line workers] to feel that they are fighting this alone; they need to feel our support, and our love, to get through this.”
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