Bethenny Frankel reveals what she's doing to help kids during coronavirus crisis
People may know Bethenny Frankel for her time on The Real Housewives of New York City and her status as a business mogul, but it’s her role as a philanthropist that’s making headlines during the coronavirus crisis. Frankel spoke with Yahoo Lifestyle about her latest outreach efforts and revealed what she’s doing to help those most in need through her bstrong disaster relief initiative, which has provided aid in the wake of Hurricanes Maria and Dorian, in Australia during the recent wildfires and other areas in need. “We are assembling what we’re calling ‘corona kits’ which are sanitization and hydration kits,” she reveals. “The hydration kits have medical-grade vitamin C and zinc in them. There are masks, there are gloves, antibacterial gel,” she adds. Bstrong’s focus during the outbreak is prevention, and the kits are just one way the organization is helping. “Our mission now is prevention, sanitization and meals for kids who will be out of school for the foreseeable future,” she says. Frankel says she was inspired to take action after learning the reason why many schools were being kept open despite calls for their closure. “[Schools] serve as food and shelter for the poor and that people would be virtually homeless and meal-less,” Frankel shared. “It really broke my heart and I thought ‘OK, so let’s provide tote bags filled with sanitization kits.’ And then I took it to the next level because our specialty is bstrong cash cards to give people the dignity to be able to able to afford lunches and meals for their kids while they’re not in school,” she adds. She continued, “we’re aiming for 20,000 kits. We’ve already allocated over $65,000. We have donations coming in by the minute.” Aside from donations, Frankel says there’s something everyone can do to help out. “The most important thing that people can do right now is stay home. This is not a social event, this is not a party,” she says. “For the first time ever the sum is not greater than its part and there’s no strength in numbers unless ‘strength in numbers’ means numbers of people staying home,” she says. Frankel had a message to people: “Think about people who really really have absolutely nothing now. They’re panicked, they’re scared and we have to support them. The only thing that matters is our health.”
Video Transcript
BETHENNY FRANKEL: Hi, I'm Bethenny Frankel, and I am at my house in Long Island home with my daughter while working on bstrong, my initiative that specializes in disaster relief and crisis aid. We are assembling what we're calling coronavirus kits, which are sanitization and hydration kits.
The hydration kits have medical grade vitamin C and zinc in them. There are masks. There are gloves, antibacterial gel. People need to prevent, and people can't afford to keep themselves clean, especially because of price gouging.
Our mission now is prevention, sanitization, and meals for kids, who will be out of school for the foreseeable future. The reason schools were being kept open is because they serve as food and shelter for the poor and that people would virtually be homeless and mealless, have no meals. So it really broke my heart, and I thought OK, so let's provide tote bags filled with sanitization kits. And then, I took it to the next level because our specialty is cash cards, bstrong cash cards to give people their dignity to be able to afford lunches and meals for their kids while not at school.
We're aiming for 20,000 kits. We've already allocated over $65,000. We have donations coming in by the minute. We have done things that no one has ever done. We've created one of the largest private relief efforts in the world. In Puerto Rico, we have sent $25 million of aid with the least amount of overhead you can possibly imagine. So we are lean and mean, and we figure out ways of doing things that seem impossible. We have a lot of experience all over the world.
The most important thing that people can do right now is stay home. This is not a social event. This is not a party. For the first time ever, the sum is not greater than its parts, and there is no strength in numbers unless strength in numbers mean numbers of people staying home.
Use your time wisely. Be organized about things you haven't gotten to with work. Just try to feel positive and clean. And think about people who really, really have absolutely nothing now, are panicked, are scared. We have to support them.
The only thing that matters is our health, and these are times where superficiality needs to just move to the side.
