48 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • MAY 2020
CHARITABLE PPE
GRACE UNDER PRESSURE
When Derek Chan and John Lee helped
five families cofound the Greater Roslyn
Association For Chinese Enrichment
(GRACE) last year, the initial goal was to
help immigrant families assimilate into
the community.
Then the coronavirus pandemic struck.
The charitable businessmen quickly rallied
their new nonprofit’s membership
to raise funds for personal protective
equipment (PPE) that the group donated
to local hospitals, group homes, and
schools. In the process, they’re helping
combat the anti-Chinese sentiment that
has surfaced in the wake of the COVID-
19’s emergence.
“The byproduct of what we’re doing will
be to help people understand we’re really
fighting this fire together,” says Lee,
treasurer of GRACE and a vice president
at Melville-based dental supply manufacturer
Henry Schein, Inc. “There’s really
no nationality when
it comes to a virus or
pandemic ... We’re all
in this together.”
When the healthcare
system began being
overwhelmed by
coronavirus patients
in March, GRACE initially
set out to raise
$500 to buy surgical
masks to donate to
medics in need of supplies. Following
an outpouring of support from Chinese
families in Roslyn, the nonprofit raised
more than $13,000 as of press time.
“It turned out finding donations was the
easiest part,” says Chan, president of
GRACE as well as president of Greater
Hudson Financial, a financial planning
company. “Now finding PPEs was the
hardest part.”
After reaching out to
their contacts and
GRACE’s members
doing the same, the
group secured 1,500
N95 masts, 1,500 surgical
masks, plus hundreds of
gowns, goggles, and latex
gloves — all of which
have proven especially
difficult to find amid
increased demand
during the crisis.
The group then donated the PPE to NYU
Winthrop Hospital, Glen Cove Hospital,
and other hospitals as well as to local
nursing homes and rehabilitation centers
that run group homes, which have
also been struggling to secure PPE. They
also combined resources with eight other
LI Chinese associations to together donate
6,000 N95 masks and 27,500 surgical
masks to additional hospitals.
Among the group homes were those run
by Life’s WORC, a Garden City-based nonprofit
organization dedicated to helping
people with intellectual disabilities and
autism. Lee serves on the board of the
nonprofit, which was founded by Victoria
Schneps-Yunis, owner of Schneps
Media, the parent company of the Long
Island Press.
In hindsight, battling the stigma of coronavirus
was never their intention, but
Lee and Chan welcome any peripheral
benefits GRACE’s good deeds may bring.
“It doesn’t matter in my mind if you’re
Chinese, or Italian, or American,” Chan
says, “In times of crisis, you see the good
in people.”
For more information, visit
roslyngrace.org
-TB
L. to R.: Derek Chan of GRACE,
Vicky Chau of GRACE, and BEA Ragoonanan
of Glen Cove Hospital.
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