Today, I’m proud to announce that my Foundation @EJAF is launching a $1million COVID-19 Emergency Fund to make sure that our frontline partners can respond to the effects of COVID-19 on HIV care for the most marginalised communities around the world. pic.twitter.com/g4wh9dnd3d
— Elton John (@eltonofficial) April 4, 2020
Last Sunday, Elton John hosted the iHeart Living Room Concert for America. The concert raised over $1 million, and that is going to provide much-needed support to Feeding America and First Responders Children’s Foundation.
Elton isn’t done trying to help people during the pandemic, though. He’s focusing his efforts to assist a vulnerable population: those who are living with HIV and AIDS:
On Saturday, the music icon announced that his nonprofit, the Elton John Aids Foundation, is launching a $1 million COVID-19 Emergency Fund to protect those affected by HIV.
“I am so pleased to announce that my foundation is launching a new COVID-19 emergency fund today,” the 73-year-old kicked off a video of him sharing the news on Twitter. “For almost 30 years my foundation has prioritized the most vulnerable people to HIV to end the AIDS epidemic and we’re committed to this during the COVID-19 crisis too.”
The singer shared that “distributing medicine, testing and preventive treatment is not as simple as it was a few weeks ago” — efforts which he hopes his emergency fund can assist with.
“Our new COVID-19 emergency fund will help frontline partners to prepare for and respond to the pandemic and its effects on HIV prevention and care for the most marginalized communities,” the father of two explained.
“We must keep up momentum or else the results could be disastrous for people living with HIV and other infectious diseases,” he urged. “We’re with you, we’re thinking of you, we will not leave anyone behind.”
According to Forbes, During the iHeart Radio fundraiser, Elton had drawn a parallel between the current pandemic and the rise of HIV and AIDS diagnoses in the 1980s:
“I can’t tell you how important it is for you to take this pandemic seriously. Not long ago, there was another infectious disease that was ignored. Day in and day out, the disease got worse because we did nothing. Too many forgot about compassion and decency, so millions and millions of people perished from AIDS.”
When I was writing the story last week, I saw part of these comments in one of the clips that I watched, and so I’m not surprised that Elton has decided to create this emergency fund. He understandably, obviously, feels very strongly about protecting those individuals who are living with either HIV or AIDS. Good for him. I hope that the foundation gets a number of strong, actionable proposals from organizations so that the funds can be put to great use and make a tangible difference in both flattening the curve in general, and in saving the lives of people who are at a higher risk of more serious infection because of their underlying medical conditions.
Thank you, Sir Elton, for remembering vulnerable populations. Thanks for covering this hopeful message, Quimby!
Yeah, I love how he did this, and blended both of the two issues together. So often the message in society is that every individual is supposed to only focus on one thing, but this is awesome.
That’s truly awesome. Thanks for sharing this!
This is awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Beautiful, and just what youd expect from him.
Elton has a giving heart. I’ve always admired how he marries fun with charitable giving as it is a smart way to open our pockets, especially those of the wealthy. With his iHeart concert he entertained us and encouraged us to give to two very worthy causes. Now, once again, he is involving himself to help another vulnerable group in our society. And he puts his money, time, and effort where his mouth is! He and David are to be commended. Rock On, Elton…..well done.
I had a ticket to see him this summer. I am actually kind of bummed that it will not happen.
This is a really wonderful thing he is doing. I am aware of someone in NYC who died of COVID-19 and who was HIV+–it really does raise your risk. Here’s hoping that Sir Elton’s money saves a lot of lives.