Save the Children: A Special Effort During COVID-19

A $1 million grant from the Baxter International Foundation is helping further Save the Children’s global, dynamic initiatives to provide emergency relief for children and families during COVID-19. 

Since the pandemic’s onset, the nonprofit’s teams around the world have stepped up to support community needs during this unprecedented time -- offering programming that helps strengthen community healthcare, bolster education opportunities and provide a range of services to support families’ livelihoods. We’re proud to contribute to their critical work. Here’s an inside look at some of the organisation’s frontline efforts.

Italy

Image of volunteers carrying care kits

Photo credit: Marco Sanna for Save The Children

Across Italy, Save the Children employees and local partners shop for and distribute basic necessities, like food and hygiene products, directly to low-income children and families facing increased health, education and safety risks amid COVID-19. Above, Save the Children colleagues prepare for distribution in Sassari, a Sardinian town; and below, in the northern Italian town of Turin. 

Image of volunteers packing care kits for Save The Children

Photo credit: Housedada for Save The Children

China

Image of volunteers packing care kits for Save The Children

Photo credit: Save The Children Hong Kong

In Hong Kong, Save the Children is working with local organisations to distribute thousands of face masks and hand sanitisers to vulnerable children and families, in addition to providing health and hygiene information to communities.

Mexico

Image of children who have received care kits from Save The Children in Mexico

Photo credit: Save The Children Mexico

Through a “What is Coronavirus?” workshop, Save the Children staff taught safe hand washing technique and delivered hygiene kits to migrant children in shelters in Tijuana. A 10-year-old participant, pictured below, shared his takeaways from the session: “It’s [handwashing] gonna help me to protect myself from the virus. The virus isn’t going to be able to touch me because I’m preventing it from touching me. That’s why we have to wash our hands.”

Image of a child who received aid from Save The Children

Photo credit: Save The Children Mexico

United States

Image of volunteers packing care kits for Save The Children

Photo credit: Shawn Millsaps for Save The Children

      In Kentucky, Save the Children staff provided learning materials including books, worksheets and educational toys to children and families. The organisation is hard at work to ensure that across the country, the most vulnerable kids are learning and getting the nutrition they need while they’re home from school.

"The challenges all communities are facing today, especially in vulnerable areas, because of COVID-19 are immense. I am proud of, and thankful for, our ability to contribute to groups like Save the Children who are working to help people around the world stay safe and healthy," said Veronica Arroyave, executive director of the Baxter International Foundation.

The Baxter International Foundation is prioritising its support of COVID-19 response efforts in the communities where Baxter’s employees live and work around the world. As of April 2020, the Foundation had provided more than $2 million in financial support for humanitarian relief organisations on the front lines of the pandemic. Click here for the latest information on our COVID-19 giving and response efforts.