HOUSTON — Chinese-Americans in the Houston area are buying and sending supplies to relatives in China to help stop the spread of Coronavirus and keep them safe amid the ongoing threat.
One woman is organizing a supply drive on Friday.
Aileen Lu was physically in Spring on Thursday afternoon but her mind was more than 7,000 miles away, thinking about her family members in a neighboring province to Wuhan, China.
That includes Lu’s mother, who is currently alone and apart from her brother, niece and two others.
“She feels helpless,” Lu said. “She cannot go anywhere. There’s public transportation, but it’s not safe for her.”
Lu, a Shanghai native who has lived in Houston the last decade, says her family’s not only dealing with empty streets, long lines, and supply shortages, but also food priced several times higher than usual.
“They’ve quarantined the whole city of Wuhan,” Lu said. “I don’t know what they’re going to do next. What if they close down the international shipping?”
Lu is hoping for help from the U.S. Consulate and airlines to get her family out of China.
While her friends and family are stuck in the country, Lu is organizing a supply drive for family, friends and others.
Hope PYX Global, a local nonprofit specializing in helping the Asian community, and Office Depot will help Lu collect masks, medical goggles, hand sanitizers, and vitamins.
They’re also accepting money for food and asking for shipping help from companies like FedEx and UPS.
“If we don’t prevent (novel coronavirus) from ending (in China), it will get here,” Lu said.
Lu is not alone. Chi-mei Lin, CEO of Houston’s Chinese Community Center, told KHOU the Chinese Civic Center and Peking University Alumni Association of Houston have also organized activities to help people in Wuhan.
Ken Chen, manager at Welcome Food Center in Houston’s Chinatown, said customers have been buying hundreds of boxes of masks.
“Most people, they buy it and they send it back to China,” Chen said.
Those are just a few examples of growing local help to stop what the World Health Organization declared a global public health emergency.
Anyone wanting to donate to Lu’s relief effort can drop off items Friday, between 9 a.m. and noon at the United Way on 1300 Bay Area Blvd., Building A, in Houston.
People wanting to help who can’t make Friday’s event can donate online or drop off supplies at the Office Depot in Spring at 20075 I-45 North.
For more information, call 515-41-CHINA.