Our COVID Relief efforts in Detroit continue and have become the catalyst for a joint effort between the Highland Park City Council and HPC3, whose goal is to not only respond to the current crisis, but to create a more sustainable and resilient community. In Nepal our response has just begun. As in Detroit, we are addressing economic and health issues brought by the pandemic. We are grateful to be able to do this work.
Building upon the early efforts to address the COVID-19 crisis in Detroit, D2N has funded a relief package which provides education, food and water security, reliable information, COVID-19 testing, mental health counseling and energy assistance. As with all D2N projects, we asked the communities we would be working with what their priorities were and how they wanted to address them. The result is The D2N Detroit COVID-19 Relief Initiative.
When the 2015 earthquake devastated Nepal D2N was in a unique position. We were already working in underserved communities and had developed trusting relationships with their residents. During the current pandemic we find ourselves in a similar situation.
Our Detroit partners have quickly identified the challenges COVID-19 is presenting to their communities and have sprung into action. We are grateful to be able to assist in their efforts.
Avalon Village in Highland Park has distributed bags with hygiene products and information necessary to combat the virus. In partnership with Buckets of Rain, Avalon Village is also providing regular food distribution to their families.
Odis Bellinger of Building Better Men is distributing books to his boys and providing them with an ongoing virtual education plan. Click here to read more about Odis’s efforts.
D2N turns 10 in 2020 - what an amazing ten years! We are proud of what has been accomplished during these years and look forward to the next ten. We are grateful for our supporters, our partners and every single opportunity that has come our way. These opportunities have enabled D2N to narrow its focus for the coming years - build health posts and birthing centers in Nepal and engage in projects that strengthen collaborative efforts to improve access to health and wellness care to families in Highland Park.
Kalika Secondary School in Rakha, D2N's twelfth and final school, was completed in June, bringing our school reconstruction project to an end. In Detroit we are looking forward to our August 24th Community Health Fair at the SAY Detroit Family Health Clinic. Together, kids from Mama Shu's Hood Camp and surrounding community members will tour the SAY Clinic and enjoy a bbq across the street at the Buckets of Rain gardens. Attendees can have their blood pressure checked and receive a 'free prescription for vegetable' bag and a backpack with school supplies. WNUC will broadcast from the fair, making the event a perfect example of our Detroit partners sharing ideas and resources.
Read about Richard in Crain's Detroit Business, about board member Debbie Charfoos in The Jewish News and our latest newsletter.
April 25th was the fourth anniversary of the devastating earthquake in Nepal. Since 2015 D2N has rebuilt 11 schools and will be completing the 12th this year. In addition, we have built three health posts and birth centers with a fourth scheduled to be finished in the coming months. All schools and health post/birthing centers have been built with earthquake-safe engineering. Richard describes these efforts on Fox 2 Detroit.
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Fall brings the harvest season so it is a perfect time to introduce the newest member of the Detroit family: Buckets of Rain. Buckets of Rain's urban gardens in Highland Park provide vegetables for homeless shelters, neighbors and their prescription for vegetables program at the S.A.Y. Detroit Family Health Clinic. Doctors at the clinic write “prescriptions” for patients who then visit Bucket of Rain’s one-acre urban garden across from the clinic for the recommended vegetables at no charge. An equally unique program has started at our Nepal Health Posts and Birthing Centers: portable ultrasound. As D2N builds more health posts and birthing centers, we are evaluating how to expand the services rendered. Ultrasound evaluations during preganancy is one example how we can deliver more sophisticated services benefiting pregnant women. The local community in Dipsung is currently formulating a proposal to D2N which will integrate ultrasound with our check ups during pregnancy.
Summer in Nepal means the monsoon season, so all projects are on hold until the fall. The Sapteshwor Health Post and Birthing Center is nearly complete; only inside work remains. Summer in Detroit means camp! D2N is sponsoring both music and hood camps at Avalon Village as well as Building Better Men's summer programming at S.A.Y Detroit Play. Sounds of summer also include a new health segment, Drs Making a House Call, every other Monday at 6 pm on WNUC 96.7.
Click here for May 2018 Newsletter.
photo courtesy dZi foundation
