South Bay Teen Takes Coronavirus PPE Fundraiser National

LOS ALTOS, CA — It’s been a whirlwind five weeks for Angelina Lue.

Early on in the new coronavirus outbreak the Los Altos High junior along with a handful of friends started a fundraising drive in support of medical workers on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis facing a critical shortage personal protective equipment (PPE).

They started out with a not inconsequential yet modest goal, hoping to raise $5,000.

Lue’s “Fighting for Heroes” team has more than doubled its original fundraising goal and more than tripled its workforce.

Fighting for Heroes has sent masks by the thousands to front-line medical workers across the country.

The group also launched its own website.

The Bay Area has taken notice.

Lue has appeared in television interviews on NBC Bay Area and KPIX 5.

Videographer Fernando Sepulveda Sagaseta produced a YouTube video in support of their cause.

Not bad for a quarantined student trying to wrap up her year in front of a Zoom screen.

“It’s been kind of surreal,” Lue said.

Her group has produced very real results.

As of Wednesday afternoon, Fighting for Heroes had already raised over $12,000 in support of front-line medical workers facing a critical shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) through a GoFundMe drive it launched March 22.

They’ve already donated 15,150 surgical masks to a dozen or so Bay Area hospitals, with another 5,000 surgical masks and 200 N95 masks on order.

They’ve sent 3,000 masks to medical workers in the epicenter of the pandemic in New York City; 2,000 masks to Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx and 1,000 to Mount Sinai in Manhattan.

Lue came up with the idea for the funding drive during her first week of distance learning after school districts in the Bay Area started shuttering in mid-March.

Her team started out with a half dozen Bay Area high school students from three high schools. Lue convinced Paulina Harding, a Bishop O'Dowd of Oakland junior, and Sheryl Chen, a Menlo-Atherton freshman, friends she’d made from the high school debating circuit to join the fundraising drive originally called “Teens Fighting COVID-19.”

Her team has since swelled to an impactful small army of 21, using their social media savvy and power of persuasion honed in competitive debating to bring awareness to their cause.

Lue’s team decided to raise its initial $5,000 fundraising goal during one of the group’s first meetings. Fighting for Heroes conferences virtually on Face Time.

“I felt we could do more,” Lue said. “We kind of challenged ourselves to hit $10,000. We didn’t know how exactly much masks were going to cost at the time, so we were just hoping to donate a few thousand masks.”

Lue’s entrepreneurial background helped her navigate the international wholesale market.

Lue started a clothing and accessories company when she was 13. Ivory Tees contributes 20 percent of its profits to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, a conservation group dedicated to protecting Africa's wildlife habitat.

Lue’s team decided to expand its reach beyond the Bay Area after hitting its initial fundraising goal. Fighting for Heroes has since raised its goal to $15,000.

“We were kind of discussing internally if we hit $10,000, we could help other areas of the country that may have an even greater need than California does right now like New York,” she said.

“The reason we felt compelled to do so was just seeing how bad the situation is there. The temporary morgues where they have dozens of fridge trucks to store bodies is just unfathomable and a lot worse than what we’re experiencing here, and we felt like we really needed to spread the love and send some masks over there.”

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Don't expect Fighting for Heroes walk away from this fight anytime soon.

Lue said the group will continue fundraising until front-line medical workers have what they need to do their jobs safely.

“I see all these videos on social media of health care workers begging for masks and I now know how much of an impact we can make, and I think it would just be a waste if we didn’t continue until we’re able to resolve the problem because there are people who are literally risking their lives and their families’ lives when they go into these hospitals.

“They’re basically just like soldiers going to war, except you can’t even see the enemy … We know we have the ability to help provide this protection so we want to do what we can because we’re all at home, we’re not risking our lives like they are so it’s the least we can do to protect them.”

How you can help:

Contribute to Fighting for Heroes GoFundMe campaign.

Follow them on Instagram.

Visit their website.

More coronavirus coverage:

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• Medical Experts Blast Calif. Coronavirus Herd Immunity Theory
• Stanford Grads Enlist In Coronavirus 'Challenge' Study: Report
• Bay Area Teens Team Up For Coronavirus PPE GoFundMe Drive

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