Ep 123 | Dr Karen Tsai: How the CoFounder of Donate PPE Raised $150,000 for Covid-19

Apr 5, 2021

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A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

It’s been nearly a year since we started publishing episodes of Talking Taiwan on a weekly basis at the beginning of this pandemic, and I’ve really enjoyed seeing the listenership grow.

I’d like to acknowledge our listeners here, especially those who have reached out to me directly. One listener who reached out, said that episode 99 with Professor Scott Simon was particularly eye opening.

That led me to think about how to cover the topic of Taiwan’s indigenous people and to interview Tony Coolidge (in episodes 112 and 113) about discovering his indigenous roots and his work with the indigenous people of Taiwan. The two episodes I did with Tony are now among the most listened to.

Recently we’ve also gotten some wonderful anonymous reviews from listeners: “Amazing podcast. Really enjoy listening to it, love the variety of people that come on!” and just a few days ago, another listener wrote: “Love all the topics that has been discussed in Talking Taiwan!”

We are so grateful for all of this feedback. Your reviews help Talking Taiwan to get discovered. It’s great to know that we have a regular listener base, and that our content is resonating with you. Thank you for reaching out and letting us know how we’re doing!

This week’s episode features part two of my interview with Dr. Karen Tsai about her work with Donate PPE, a nonprofit that she has co-founded and that has raised over $150,000 to date. This is part two of my interview with her after speaking with her previously in episode 120 about how she spearheaded the creation of Monster Dance, a children’s book created to address the needs of children dealing with a world changed by COVID-19.

Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

How and why Dr. Tsai started the nonprofit organization Donate PPE with Deyu Kong
How the Donate PPE team is entirely Asian American
The work of Donate PPE and how it has delivered PPE to different low income, communities in need
The various companies and organizations that Donate PPE has worked with to get donations distributed
How Donate PPE has made donations internationally
How Donate PPE has adjusted as the situation with the pandemic has changed over time
How Donate PPE’s initially targeted hospitals and health care workers but later expanded to nursing homes, free clinics, schools, underprivileged communities, Navajo Nations, rural areas in the Midwest, vaccination sites
Asian hate crime advocacy organizations
The different distribution challenges that Donate PPE has had to deal with
How Donate PPE dealt with the distribution challenges presented by the partnership with Norwex to Distribute a Million Masks to Healthcare Workers and how Citizens of Humanity assisted
How Donate PPE got its nonprofit 501(c)(3) status during the pandemic by May 2020
How Dr. Tsai has worked full-time as a physician while running Donate PPE
How the Donate PPE website has changed over time
What’s in the future for Donate PPE once COVID-19 gets more under control