The spread of COVID-19 in Seattle and across the country affects us all, but particularly those who are most vulnerable in our society. That’s why the Raikes Foundation has contributed $50,000 to the Seattle Foundation’s COVID-19 Response Fund. We encourage foundations, companies and individuals of means in our community to identify what they can do to support others, including contributing to this fund to get much-needed resources into the hands of front line service providers and impacted communities during this time of crisis.

It has never been clearer that our communities are connected and interdependent. That’s why we are so disturbed to hear of rising incidents of xenophobic harassment against Asian-Americans both here in our hometown of Seattle and across the country. We must not allow xenophobia to divide us at such a critical time.

The COVID-19 crisis has exposed weaknesses in our social safety net that will disproportionately hurt our community’s most vulnerable residents. We must rebuild the support systems we so urgently need by putting equity at the center. That remains the Raikes Foundation’s foremost long-term goal, and we urge others to join us as we do all that we can to mitigate this immediate crisis.