Jeremy Lin, former NBA player, has partnered with outreach charity Mobilize Love to provide low-income families in San Francisco with free hot meals during Covid-19.
Mobilize Love is the Bay Area’s first non-profit food truck and mobile after-school programme which supports under-resourced communities by providing hot meals, lessons in social and emotional development, and a literacy programme for children.
The charity has seen a recent spike in demand due to the economic challenges brought about by the pandemic.
Earlier this year, Mobilize Love joined forces with CityTeam San Francisco to successfully deliver over 2,000 free hot meals to communities most affected by the Coronavirus.
The collaboration between Jeremy Lin and Mobilize Love is the latest initiative in the ex-point guard’s #BeTheLight campaign.
In a post featured in The Players’ Tribune, Lin encouraged fans to “choose light” in the face of hardship by spreading kindness and compassion.
“It doesn’t have to be flashy or heroic. Choosing light could just be checking on a friend who is mentally struggling. It could be showing extra appreciation for your delivery person or standing up for someone who is being bullied.”
Since March, Mobilize Love has deployed a daily convoy of outreach trucks, supplying members of the community with hot meals, groceries, and hygiene products.
Public support from Lin has helped raise awareness of Mobilize Love’s work. The co-founders of the charity, husband and wife Christian and Cori Huang, have expressed their gratitude to Lin for his support.
“Mobilize Love exists to show up and give hope. We do this by providing mobile human services. So when Covid-19 happened, we decided to go into the frontlines of San Francisco so that families and children don’t go hungry,” Mr and Mrs Huang said.
“We’re thankful to Jeremy Lin and his Foundation for ensuring that we can continue to distribute free meals every day. Because of their commitment, thousands of families will be taken care of during this pandemic.”
As part of the #BeTheLight campaign, Lin has pledged to donate up to $1 million to organisations on the frontline of providing relief during the pandemic.
“Truth is, we have it in us to be the light, because there are already millions choosing to be the light every day,” Lin said. “No one knows how devastating the impact of this crisis will be, but the projections aren’t good. We’re going to be recovering from this for a long time. But in the process, there will be so many opportunities to choose light.”
Lin has agreed to match all public donations to Mobilize Love up to $20,000. If the fundraising goal is achieved, Mobilize Love will be able to serve up to 20,000 people across the Bay Area over the next 20 weeks.
The #BeTheLight campaign is the latest social project to receive backing from the former New York Knicks star, who has supported various charities including Direct Relief, a non-profit organisation whose mission is to improve the lives of people in poverty or emergency situations through the provision of medical resources.
Since the outbreak of the Coronavirus, Direct Relief has distributed over 1.4 million face masks, 2.6 million gloves, and almost 600,000 articles of personal protective equipment (PPE) to healthcare workers in 32 countries worldwide.
Click here to get involved in the #BeTheLight campaign.
