Unprecedented.

For most of us, just about everything about the COVID-19 pandemic is unlike anything we have ever experienced, and the loss of life is unfathomable. Hospitals, doctors and nurses are being extended far beyond capacity. Businesses are collapsing and people are suddenly and unexpectedly unemployed. Our shuls and yeshivas have been locked for weeks. Isolation, quarantining and social distancing have become the new normal. The list goes on; and even now, weeks into the pandemic, we still don’t have any answers.

None of us were prepared to see our world’s infrastructure crumble, with everything happening so quickly and with almost no warning. Scrambling to meet the historic and unexpected flood of calls for help, Amudim partnered with multiple organizations to launch a support line providing free, anonymous help for coronavirus-related issues. Staffed by more than 100 mental health professionals generously donating their time from 8 AM to 11 PM ESTdaily, the support line has answered more than 1300 calls for help in just over a month. Thankfully, the vast majority of those callers had their concerns resolved in just a single phone conversation, but there are others in need of more extensive treatment.

In conjunction with #GivingTuesdayNow, the Amudim COVID-19 Relief Fund has been launched to provide support services to those who cannot afford the therapy they need to get them through this crisis. From now through midnight tonight, all donations to the Amudim COVID-19 Relief Fund will be doubled, giving twice as many people impacted by COVID-19 access to professional mental health care. It has been heartwarming to see the many resources that have been invested in medical care for coronavirus patients over the past month; and the time has come to address the outbreak’s mental health component, which is vital.

Join us in our efforts to help the many individuals who are struggling during this difficult time by partnering with us today. While circumstances dictate that we stay physically apart from each other for now, #GivingTuesdayNow is an opportunity for all of us to come together, and together we can save lives.

Zvi Gluck is the CEO of Amudim, an organization dedicated to helping abuse victims and those suffering with addiction within the Jewish community and has been heavily involved in crisis intervention and management for the past 20 years. For more information go to www.amudim.org.

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