OPEN LETTER FROM OUR CHAIR
The First 100 Days of COVID-19
Certainly, it was not just “two coronavirus cases that were under control,” nor did it magically disappear. Summer seasonal change did not matter! Hydroxychloroquine is a joke. Over the past 100 days, America has seen two million cases and 130,000 deaths. We don’t know where we are on the spectrum of this pandemic. The incidence of new cases is up and growing in over 20 states. Irresponsible re-opening is the likely culprit. Experts attribute this to Memorial Day weekend activities and not observing CDC rules. In the Northeast, where social distancing and other guidelines are followed, recorded cases and deaths are down dramatically. The same is true for Western Europe. The idea of cramming 20,000 delegates without masks into a confined space is sheer insanity. It’s national suicide as are political “rallies.” Convention delegates come from, and return to, their families and friends in every part of the country. Our recovery will be wiped out and hard-earned progress set back. We could be heading toward a national crisis, again.
While we are hoping for a vaccine and treatment, the Leesfield Family Foundation with help from Leesfield Scolaro, P.A., has undertaken an aggressive program to show our support for the healthcare providers and first responders who have sacrificed so much to save lives, while comforting victims. Here in South Florida, the number of reported cases is still increasing and the same is true in other “hot spots.”
Usually, our Foundation report includes updates on a number of community grants and scholarships which advance the lives of the most needy. However, this blog is “all in” on COVID-19. Without the proper scientific advances and political intelligence, all scholarship and community needs will be adversely impacted. Kids of all ages are not going back to school in the Fall. Whether it be elementary grades, college, or graduate schools, community organizations must respond to an evergrowing number of homeless issues and food deprivation. This is the most challenging and difficult time in America’s history.
So, please help us in helping those who are doing the most good with direct involvement. Here are five organizations providing for our welfare. You may support them directly with the links provided below or by contacting us at Leesfield Family Foundation for further updates and information. In every sense, this is now a crisis of life and death. Medical authorities now predict over 200,000 deaths by August. A human loss to COVID-19 is a shocking experience of isolation, pain, desperation and helplessness.
Miami Pandemic Response Fund – www.unitedwaymiami.org
Baptist Health Foundation-COVID-19 Initiative – www.baptisthealth.net
Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations – www.cepi.net
Americares – www.americares.org
World Central Kitchen – www.wck.org/chefsforamerica
As always, we will do all we can and hope you do the same.
Sincerely,
Ira Leesfield, Chair
Leesfield Family Foundation