Supporting Our Non-Profit Partners
During The COVID-19 Pandemic

Greetings!

Much has changed since the first week of January when we held our first volunteer event in Philadelphia. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted most aspects of our daily lives including our families and businesses. The pandemic has also had a dramatic impact on the non-profit partners we support and the communities they serve.
One thing that has not changed is the mission of Life Science Cares. We are continuing to unite the life science community to support our non-profit partners as they work tirelessly to reduce the impact of poverty on our neighbors.

In our first first several months months of existence, Life Science Cares Philadelphia:
As our ability to provide in person volunteers has been placed on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, we remain focused on strengthening the connections between our life science community and our partner non-profits. One way we are doing this is by staying in close contact with our partners and sharing information about the ways that our partners and the communities they serve have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Learn more about the needs of our partners in the How Our Partners Are Adapting section below.
In response to the feedback from our partners, Life Science Cares Philadelphia granted $100,000 to support their efforts in this time of extreme need. Today we call on the life science community to join us in our next round of grants. Learn more about how you can join us in the Get Involved - Donate section below.
How Our Partners Are Adapting
Many of our partners are experiencing increased demand for the critical services they provide. This is straining their capacity to support those in need as:

  • the unemployment rate in Philadelphia has increased significantly; and
  • other non-profits have reduced or eliminated services which has increased demand on those remaining.

These new demands are in addition to Philadelphia’s enduring challenge with entrenched poverty - we continue to have the highest share of households living below the federal poverty line in the United States.

Additionally, our partners are incurring unplanned expenses as they have modified the services they provide in order to continue to operate in the COVID-19 environment. Most are no longer able to utilize volunteers and are paying staff overtime or hiring temporary help. Proper health and safety precautions such as deep cleaning of facilities, modifications to operations and personal protective equipment for staff have also added to expenses.

It is in this environment that the services being provided are needed more than ever. Read more about our partners responses to the COVID-19 crisis below and on our website.
  • "To Go" meals replace sit down meals
  • Demand for personal care service is skyrocketing: > 2x annual average
  • Extended "winter cafe" overnight facility
  • Participating in "Step Up to the Plate" to provide meals and healthcare to the homeless community
  • Estimated that food insecurity will rise 46% nationwide as a result of this crisis
  • > 20 additional distribution sites across Philadelphia
  • Purchasing, assembling and distributing emergency meal boxes that can be distributed "grab-and-go" style to maintain social distancing
  • Unable to accept donated goods due to the challenge of trying to sanitize a gently-used product stream
  • Receiving urgent requests from food pantries, homeless shelters, and other partner agencies for materials
  • Need to purchase 750,000 diapers and bulk hygiene items
  • Part time jobs held by many YearUp students have been eliminated or hours reduced
  • Need to providing financial support to students as they experience significant hardship 
  • Economic downturn will make finding jobs hard for students
Get Involved - Donate
Life Science Cares Philadelphia recently made grants in the amount of $100,000 to support our partners' COVID-19 relief efforts. Given the dire financial circumstances under which our partners are operating, we encourage our life science community to join us and contribute to our next round of emergency grant-making. 
We will make additional grants to our partners until we reach our goal of $200,000. In order to increase the impact of your donations to Life Science Cares Philadelphia, we will match all donations we receive in this time of extreme need. For every dollar donated to Life Science Cares Philadelphia, we will make $2 in grants to our partners who continue to be in need of financial support, until we reach our goal. 

Funding for the emergency grants and our Life Science Cares match program has been provided by members of the Board of Directors of Life Science Cares Philadelphia and Spark Therapeutics. We encourage our life science community to join us in this effort to support the most vulnerable among us.
Stay in touch
Keep up date with the latest news about Life Science Cares Philadelphia on LinkedIn and Twitter:
Life Science Cares Philadelphia
P.O. Box 670 Ardmore, PA 19003