People hold lights during a vigil organized by Nailing It For America for those who have died from COVID-19 and to “Stop Asian Hate” on March 4, 2021 in Fountain Valley, California. Image: AFP/Patrick T. Fallon
One woman in New York took it upon herself to help fellow Asian Americans feel safer when traveling by providing free ride-sharing services amid the recent rise in hate crimes in the United States.
On how she came up with the idea, Maddy Park admitted that it was out of fear for her safety whenever she commutes via trains in New York, as per WABC on April 6.
“Last week I took the train. It was a 30-minute commute and I realized every minute of that commute I was terrified,” she was quoted as saying.
“I was scared that any moment in time someone might say a racial slur or attack me. Worst of all I thought that if something were to happen to me, nobody would stand up,” Park added.
Park, who admitted that while she could afford to take the taxi, many other Asian Americans cannot. So, she donated $2,000 of her own money to set up Cafe Maddy Cab on Instagram with her friends.
Through the said initiative, Park and many other donors help out Asian American women, elderly persons, members of the LGBTQ+ community and low-income essential workers hail a cab for free.
To her surprise, her initiative inspired many others across the US to help the Asian American community during these dire times.
“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 city,” Park was quoted as saying.
“It really opened my eyes to how many people are actually supporting the Asian community in New York City,” Park added.
Park has raised $125,000 as of yesterday, April 13, nine days after she launched Cafe Maddy Cab. A total of 1,122 have so far been paid for by Cafe Maddy Cab.
Those who want to avail themselves of the said services or donate to the initiative can go to this link provided by Park. Ian Biong /ra
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