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The Spirited Network provides kindness as a service, empowering and coordinating millions around the world who want to volunteer to make a difference in times of crisis, supporting those on the frontline and ensuring that nobody is left behind or forgotten by providing help to the most vulnerable people and organisations. These unprecedented and difficult times when we are all anxious and fearful call for a response in the spirit of the only universal currency and language there is: kindness. We seek to coordinate and best channel this in the midst of many inspiring but ad hoc and localised efforts around the world (so far we have over 10,000 organisations and 50+ countries in our database). Completely free to use, non-for-profit and built to make kindness contagious, support viral and spread compassion, we bring more method to the madness and provide direction in times of uncertainty, as a more efficient avenue for those who want to help and those in need of help.

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We have identified and chosen several keys areas as a network of efforts to focus on where we feel there is most need for volunteers and members of the public to contribute:

1. Connecting volunteers with vulnerable people and organisations looking for help

2. Sourcing and fundraising for masks, life-saving medical devices and other personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical professionals and those who need it most

3. A Global Movement to thank and show lasting appreciation for the heroes on the frontline who have dedicated themselves to helping keep us all safe in the face of adversity

4. Advocacy for longer-term structural improvements that strengthen resilience both to future shocks and the other challenges we face and that lead to important, enduring societal changes which tackle key inequalities and ruptures that the crisis has so clearly exposed.

What we do?

1. Connecting volunteers with vulnerable people and organisations looking for help +

In these times of great uncertainty, we have created a platform to connect people and organisations who would like help, with wonderful people who are able to help them, that they can choose from. Not everyone has a support system in place of friends and family and there are several simple tasks that those who are high-risk or isolation cannot perform themselves. These include but are not limited to people with pre-existing health issues, the elderly, disabled people, people with mental health conditions and those in society who are most isolated. We are determined to ensure they are not left behind or forgotten and are built to coordinate care efforts. In addition to new groups of volunteer efforts that have been set up during this crisis, existing organisations from care homes and homeless shelters to food banks, refugee camps and more will also now need more help from volunteers than ever before with ever greater amounts of pressure being put on them. Our network has two focuses, 1. We focus on connecting volunteers to existing networks and organisations around the world that are supporting people in their local area or areas where they can help depending on where they are based. 2 We directly connect people who would like help with those who can provide it in a more secure way that protects the privacy and allows them the flexibility to find the support that maps their needs. 

Areas where volunteers can help include non-contact errands such as assistance with getting and delivering groceries, the collection and delivery of prescriptions and medicine, the collection and delivering of post or things for the post office, good company in the form of calls to check-in or video conferencing, help with walking pets etc., assistance with transport (such as booking transports to take to hospital appointments or in certain cases driving), donation of supplies or food parcels/care packages and more, all using safe non-contact methods and following international and national hygiene guidelines. The tasks do not have to be huge things, but even a little bit of help will go a long way towards helping others in these difficult times of need. 

For more information please visit XXX to sign up to volunteer to offer help and XXX to sign up to look for help or register as an organisation looking for help.

2. Sourcing and fundraising for masks, life saving medical devices and other personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical professionals and those who need it most +

Now, more than ever, emergency services require a range of protective supplies and medical equipment in order to protect us. We have heard too many stories across the world of key workers being sent to the frontline without the right protection and resources as there is not enough to go around with surging global demand and traditional supply chains unable to keep up, despite the efforts of many institutions and organisations around the world. There is the added problem of bidding wars and price gouging with private sector profiteers exploiting the situation for profit and acquiring supplies to sell on at huge markups. Many lives depend on the ability for frontline staff to have adequate, safe and reliable protection and resources and we are determined to help address the problem. Together with our partner organisations we are working together to connect need to supply in order to ensure that masks and other PPE alongside life saving medical devices such as ventilators get to where they are needed most. Through a combination of our own and our partner organisations’ worldwide networks of facilitators and suppliers, we have clear access to hundreds of millions of supplies ranging from N95 masks, gloves and protective suits to point of care diagnostics tests and ventilators from across Asia, the Americas and Europe. We raise and provide risk capital to help finance purchases of critical PPE and equipment that we then distribute them to hospital systems, clinics and others in the medical sector etc. that are most in need, as well as act as a clearinghouse by connecting those who need supply with those who have it, triaging urgent needs and helping with logistics to ensure that it gets to where it is needed most as quickly as possible, so that every shipment is a life saving one. For more information please VISIT XXXXX

3. A Global Movement to thank and show lasting appreciation for the heroes on the frontline who have dedicated themselves to helping keep us all safe in the face of adversity +

In these unprecedented difficult times of global crisis, we ask you to join us in a global movement to thank and show our enormous appreciation to the heroes who have dedicated themselves to helping keep us all safe by providing vital services and working on the frontline, from doctors, nurses, GPs and Pharmacists in the healthcare system to carers, emergency services workers, supermarket staff, cleaners, volunteers and more. We are all hugely grateful for their continued hard work and fight against the virus in these extraordinary circumstances. Please join us in our effort, alongside the influencers we collaborate with, to show appreciation for the heroes who have dedicated themselves to helping keep us all safe, by submitting your thank you message and/or photo/video and posting it with the hashtag #SPIRITEDTHANKS and uploading it INSERT LINK so we can ensure it is sent to different hospitals, staff, organisations etc. and shared on the wall of appreciation as a lasting tribute. Your messages, which act as emotions as a gift, will help keep up their spirits, show them how many people are thinking of and cheering for them and spur them on to keep going. With your gestures, you can brighten up people’s days and contribute positively to their wellbeing and mental health. Nothing will ever be enough to repay them the debt we owe but we hope this token of gratitude will show them how grateful we all are and that we are thinking of them on top of more transient gestures like daily clapping.

They come from all walks of life and diverse backgrounds, across the world but what unites them is their willingness to help others in times of great danger that demands courage and kindness. These heroes battle adversity each day to help us all when we’re at our most vulnerable. When we get through this crisis, and we will get through it, their efforts will be one of the most key drivers. In the face of personal risks of infection or death, they keep themselves going in harm’s way for our sakes. They are not soldiers who signed up for a career where they would knowingly give their lives but tragically some have become infected and died whilst simply doing their jobs. These ultimate sacrifices cannot be in vain. Today, more than ever, we should cherish those who dedicate themselves to our care, heedless of their own health as they work tirelessly to care for people in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. They share the same fears, uncertainties and anxieties that all of us do. They too have children at home to care for, vulnerable parents and relatives to consider, underlying health conditions to protect. But through it all, they put the safety and well-being of all of us in front of their own, working round the clock to ensure they do the best they possibly can for those under the care. They deserve the utmost appreciation and gratitude and we salute them for their service.

PLEASE VISIT XXXXX

4. Advocacy for longer-term structural improvements that strengthen resilience both to future shocks and the other challenges we face, and that lead to important, enduring societal changes which tackle key inequalities and ruptures that the crisis has so clearly exposed. +

In addition to providing support addressing the most pressing immediate needs in this crisis, we also seek to advocate for longer-term structural improvements that strengthen resilience both to future shocks and the other challenges we face, and that lead to important, enduring societal changes which tackle key inequalities and ruptures that the crisis has so clearly exposed. The three main categories we are focussing on are:

1. Strengthening healthcare systems and pandemic preparedness, coupled with public health reforms around mental health and better working conditions and pay for essential workers. 

2. Harnessing the current momentum to encourage a global youth led movement towards greater volunteering participation and community engagement efforts as well actively supporting and including young people in the rebuilding of our societies 

3. Addressing the major inequalities that are being exacerbated both by the pandemic and the response to it, with the goal of rebuilding a better, more inclusive and healthier planet for everyone and the realisation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

It’s time to hit refresh and rebuild for a better, more inclusive, more sustainable, fairer, healthier, peaceful and prosperous future for all. This is the opportunity of a lifetime to improve the lifetimes of so many. 

PLEASE VISIT XXXXX to learn more

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What do we do?

We are a diverse, mission-driven team of over 100 so far who all work on a voluntary basis and are from a wide range of personal and professional backgrounds, hailing from over 40 different countries. Cross-generational, we have all been brought together by a shared determination to make a positive difference to the lives of others and do our part rather than sit idly by during the most significant crisis in recent times.  In this spirit, we built this platform as a response from leading members of communities such as Forbes 30 Under 30, World Economic Forum Global Shapers, ICE, Founders Forum, several United Nations bodies, The Oxford Guild, the Collegium Global Network and the organisations from the top universities it encompasses including Oxbridge, the Russell Group and Ivy League, as well as other pioneers in the medical/healthcare and charitable sectors and the worlds of technology, investment and business. Brought together by Abbas Kazmi, who has written HERE about why what we are doing is important as well as about his personal inspiration HERE, our leadership team has very successfully worked together before in building several other large scale organisations and projects including The Oxford Guild. We are leveraging a huge wealth of combined experience to ensure that together we can help tackle this crisis, by supporting the most vulnerable and ensuring nobody is left behind or forgotten, making people’s days and offering a shining light in a time of darkness, and aiding those on the frontline, all in order to save lives and improve conditions in these difficult times. 

You can find out more about our team and story and read more about how to get involved and help out here XXXXXX. 

They said

It is a particular piece of cosmic humour…. that we have a pandemic that forces each of us to be an island in order to realise what it means to be human together.

Ben Okri

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.

Mahatma Gandhi

The COVID-19 crisis is affecting every facet of people’s lives in every corner of the world. But tragedy need not be its only legacy. The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world to create a healthier, more equitable, and more prosperous future...To achieve a better outcome, the world must act jointly and swiftly to revamp all aspects of our societies and economies, from education to social contracts and working conditions. Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed. In short, we need a “Great Reset” "

Professor Klaus Schwab

You have to care for all beings created by God…My mission is to help any person in need...My religion is humanitarianism , which is the basis of every religion in the world

Abdul Sattar Edhi

Our human compassion binds us the one to the other – not in pity or patronisingly, but as human beings who have learnt how to turn our common suffering into hope for the future.

Nelson Mandela

The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.

Oscar Wilde

Like all of you, I’m also missing my graduation ceremony this year. And we are not alone...I ask you to remember them today as you go out and change the world. Don’t leave them behind. The class of 2020 won’t be defined by what we lost to this virus but by how we responded to it. The world is yours now and I can’t wait to see what you make of it.

Malala Yousafzai

Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.

Elizabeth Andrew

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.

Dr. Seuss

I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.

Mother Teresa

We have to do what we can to help wherever and whenever it is possible for us to help.

Jackie Chan

Only a life lived for others is worth living.

Albert Einstein

A single action from one person can be the difference between life and death for another, and simple acts of kindness are going to make all the difference in keeping some of the most vulnerable people well and out of hospital

Dr Nikki Kanani

“No one can do everything, but everyone can do something

Anonymous

When this is over - and it will be over - we want to look back on this moment and remember the many small acts of kindness done to us and by us

Rishi Sunak

In every crisis, doubt or confusion, take the higher path - the path of compassion, courage, understanding and love.

Amit Ray

The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger--but recognize the opportunity...One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.

John F. Kennedy

Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.

Desmond Tutu

Deep within every crisis is an opportunity for something beautiful.

Kate McGahan

Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.

Mark Twain

At the end of the day it’s not about what you have or even what you’ve accomplished… it’s about who you’ve lifted up, who you’ve made better. It’s about what you’ve given back.

Denzel Washington

I hope that people will finally come to realize that there is only one ‘race’ – the human race – and that we are all members of it.

Margaret Atwood

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands - one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

Audrey Hepburn

What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good.

Aristotle

However vast the darkness, we must supply our own light.

Stanley Kubrick

We have always held to the hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world, beyond the horizon.

Franklin D. Roosevelt

It is not enough to be compassionate — you must act...There is a saying in Tibetan, 'Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.' No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster.

The Dalai Lama XIV

One equal temper of heroic hearts, Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

As long as we have hope, we have direction, the energy to move, and the map to move by.

Lao Tzu

I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.

Maya Angelou

Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it.

Barack Obama

Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.

Victor Hugo

Never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.

Rahm Emanuel

It is really wonderful how much resilience there is in human nature. Let any obstructing cause, no matter what, be removed in any way, even by death, and we fly back to first principles of hope and enjoyment.

Bram Stoker, Dracula

Where there is no hope, it is incumbent on us to invent it.

Albert Camus

Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.

Princess Diana

You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.

Amelia Earhart

You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.

Kahlil Gibran

Kindness is more than deeds. It is an attitude, an expression, a look, a touch. It is anything that lifts a person up.

Plato

I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.

Edward Everett Hale

Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.

Desiderius Erasmus

Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on Earth.

Muhammad Ali

Wherever you turn, you can find someone who needs you. Even if it is a little thing, do something for which there is no pay but the privilege of doing it. Remember, you don’t live in the world all of your own.

Albert Schweitzer

If you become a helper of hearts, springs of wisdom will flow from your heart.

Rumi

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

Aesop

I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge.

Her Majesty The Queen Elizabeth II

Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness.

Seneca

The Best Response to Disaster Is Resilience. These are hard times, but we have seen worse. Courage, staying calm and counting on one another can get us through...We can draw inspiration from those who have surmounted high obstacles in the past, and vow to make the new normal that we aim to bring about better, more just and more secure than the old.

Dr. Madeleine Albright

If our hopes of building a better and safer world are to become more than wishful thinking, we will need the engagement of volunteers more than ever.

Kofi Annan

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.

Anne Frank

Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
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