TSR Positive Images: In light of the recent violence against the Asian community, one woman is taking action in protecting the community’s most vulnerable.
New York City resident Maddy Park said she knew from personal experience that many Asians feared using public transportation following recent subway attacks in the city. Her own anxiety-filled subway ride inspired her to launch the Cafe Maddy Cab initiative, which pays for private Uber and Lyft rides for female, elderly, and LGBTQ Asian people, People reports.
“It was a 30-minute commute and I realized every minute of the 30 minutes, I was terrified,” Park told ABC New York. “I was scared that any moment in time someone might say a racial slur, or attack me, or worst of all, I thought that if something were to happen to me, nobody would stand up.”
Even though Park was able to afford ridesharing and taxi rides when she felt unsafe, she knew that many couldn’t. She decided to drop $2,000 of her own on a fund used to reimburse people for their travels. After word spread, in two days Park said she raised more than $100,000, which she paid out to riders on Venmo.
“People who are donating are people from all across the nation, across all races, ethnicities, and they just sent me messages saying, ‘Listen, we really want you guys to be safe too, and we’re donating so that more people can take rides in the cities,'” Park told WABC.
Park is organizing all of this on social media! She started an Instagram page @CafeMaddyCab on April 2nd, and explained that all users have to do is provide a selfie proving they are who they say they are and a screenshot of the ride receipt to prove that they traveled in New York City.
Once they do that, they can Venmo request her for the cost of the ride, and Park will reimburse them for up to $40.
“We will use funds to support additional rides in NYC and also help fund & jump start similar initiatives in cities across the nation,” Park wrote on Instagram. “So far we have one coming up for LA, SF started one on @calikyecab and expecting more people to organize in their own city.”
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