The Importance of Charity in a Global Pandemic Cannot be Understated

The intersection and union of the charitable organization like Yad Ezra Israel and the philanthropic corporation or individual provide the means by which people who have lost their livelihood due to the COVID-19 pandemic are supplied with food, medical care, clothing, and accommodation.

COVID-19: Setting the scene 

Before we consider this statement’s meaning, let’s set the scene by looking at the impact the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has had on the global population, the national and federal healthcare systems, and the world’s economic conditions. 

As stated in multiple documents and articles available on the Internet, the novel coronavirus first appeared in Wuhan, China, in the closing days of 2019. It has since spread rapidly throughout the world, resulting in most global citizens being forced into a hard lockdown or shelter-in-place scenario where all non-essential businesses closed, schools closed, and employees laid off or furloughed. 

It’s the first time in the world’s history that the global economy was almost simultaneously brought to a halt as the first wave of infections and resultant fatalities swept through the world. 

For most countries, the numbers dropped sufficiently to allow the reopening of individual economies with non-essential businesses reopening and residents being allowed to move around and interact with each other, albeit wearing masks and staying between 1.5 and 2 meters from each other. 

Social distancing or social isolation is one of the only ways to prevent the virus’s spread. However, residents of some countries like the USA have refused to wear masks in public. An article published on BBC.com by Tara McKelvey describes why so many Americans refuse to wear masks. In summary, it boils down to “public health, civil liberties, and personal freedom.” Many people won’t wear a mask on principle. 

As an aside, this has had unfortunate consequences on the virus infection rate and the US state and federal government’s inability to control the virus’s spread. Fast forward to the last days of October 2020, where Madeline Holcombe of CNN.com describes the extent to which the SARS-CoV-2 virus has spread through the US states: 

“There is nearly no place in America where Covid-19 case counts are trending in the right direction as the country heads into what health experts say will be the most challenging months of the pandemic so far.”

The daily case count is 60% higher than the last drop during mid-September 2020. On average, there are over 55 000 new cases per day, with more than 8.1 million cases and 219 286 deaths. 

Additionally, it looks as though countries like Spain, France, Italy, and the UK are moving or have moved into the second wave of infections. The rising daily infection rate is starting to put pressure on national public health facilities. Governments are implementing local lockdown measures in a desperate attempt to prevent the infection rate from spiraling out of control as it did in the first six months of 2020.

The intersection and union of the philanthropic individual or organization and the NPO or charity

The socio-economic consequences of this pandemic have been widely documented. 

Statista.com reports that most major economies will lose at least 2.4% of their forecast Gross Domestic Product for 2020 compared to 2019 figures. Secondly, leading global economists have started reducing their worldwide economic growth forecast from 3% down to 2.4%. The 0.6% drop might not sound like a lot, but it put into perspective, it is a substantial amount of money.

The “global GDP was estimated at around 86.6 trillion U.S. dollars in 2019 – meaning that just a 0.4 percent drop in economic growth amounts to almost 3.5 trillion U.S. dollars in lost economic output.”

These forecast numbers were determined before the extent of the global pandemic was known. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the largest financial recession since the 1930s Great Depression in the USA with the anticipated loss of over $8.5 trillion (USD) over two years. Finally, more than 30 million US residents are unemployed and require financial assistance.

This is where the results of the union and intersection of the charitable organization or NPO and the philanthropic individuals who donate to charities are applicable. 

Why?

By way of answering this question, let’s consider the following points. 

The term “intersection” is defined as the act of intersection. It is also known as the point where the commonalities of the two entities meet. 

Juxtapositionally, the term “union” translates into a state where all the entities are joined together. 

For instance, if we assume that the charity and the philanthropic individual or organization are two entities, we can describe their attributes in the following way.

Charity = {helps disadvantaged people, needs donations to assist the needy}

Philanthropic organization = {has the desire to help disadvantaged people, donates funds for this purpose}

The intersection of these two entities is where they meet each other. 

Both entities have the desire to assist socio-economically disadvantaged people. This is their point of intersection. 

The point of union is the desire to help disadvantaged people, the charity’s need for financial assistance to fulfill its mandate, and the philanthropic organization’s ability and desire to supply the charity with the financial means to assist the needy by providing food, clothing, medical care, and accommodation.

The description of the role and function of both the philanthropic individual or organization and the charitable organization in relation to each other provides the raison d’etre for each entity’s existence. And neither can meet its mandate without the other one. If one entity decides not to play its part, the other entity will collapse. While this part is not so evident on the philanthropic organization’s side, it is particularly relevant to the charitable organization. 

Finally, this article can only conclude that it is critical not to understate charitable organizations’ importance. By extension, philanthropic people or organizations can provide for the needy both during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. It is going to take a while for the global economy to reboot itself. And for as long as it takes for the pandemic to end, many global citizens will need financial assistance.