Beijing Women's Federation

Residents in Beijing have volunteered and extended assistance in multiple forms to their neighbors in need of help amid the capital city's all-out efforts to bring the latest COVID-19 resurgence under control in the shortest possible time.

 

Helping Address the Last-mile Delivery Problem

 

Resident-turned volunteers have been the backbone of the labor force in the delivery of food and other daily necessities to those living in locked-down areas. Residents in a community in Chaoyang District have joined the 30 staff workers from nearby sub-district offices and residential committees to deliver daily essentials, including vegetable, fruits, meat, eggs, milk, rice to the homes of those who are temporarily off limits to outsiders because of epidemic control measures. Wang Jianhua, who is in his 70s, is a veteran residence adviser in a residential community in Chaoyang. During the past few days, he has collected parcels, takeout food and packages loaded with daily necessities from a nearby distribution center and sent them to the homes of their purchasers.

Wang said other resident volunteers and security guards have helped him deliver goods. “We are neighbors. It’s important for us to help one another during this special period,” he says.

 

 

Community volunteers deliver daily necessities in Beijing.

 

Sorting out parcels for epidemic-affected residents

 

Volunteers in a community in Chaoyang have helped rewrite house numbers, names and phone numbers on parcels before disinfecting and placing them on the shelves at the entrance of each apartment building. This minor refined measure will help those living in restrictive control areas quickly find their parcels. In addition, they volunteered to deliver parcels to the doors of those living in locked-down areas.

 

Parcels are sorted out by volunteers in a community in Beijing.

 

Responding to Needs of Residents

 

Many people living in locked-down and restrictive control areas have used WeChat groups and mini-programs to buy groceries and post their needs. For instance, a boy living in Tongzhou District has been home alone because of a sudden community-level lockdown. After learning about this in a group chat, his neighbors have been taking turns cooking for him.

 

Screenshots of a WeChat group and a mini-program initiated by local residents

 

Performing Other Roles in Community-level Epidemic Control

 

Grassroots women's federations and women volunteers across Dongba area in Chaoyang have proactively contributed their efforts on multiple fronts, which range from encouraging people to get vaccinated to the delivery of daily necessities, the organization of disinfection campaigns and the participation in nucleic acid testing.

 

Two staff workers from the women's federation of the Wangjing Sub-district Office in Chaoyang District participate in the epidemic control.

 

Volunteers explain knowledge about vaccination to elderly people.

 

There are more people like them in Beijing who have fully rallied their strength to aid the city's efforts to contain the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak.

 

Residents offer information about the neighborhood on the door.

 

A resident offer a trolley for volunteers to use.