Categories: People

“Pandemic of Love” Connects 150,000 People In Need To Those Who Can Help

"Love is a two-way street. Remember the giver and receiver can benefit from its gifts."

Shelly Tygielski, a mindfulness teacher from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, started a local online grassroot initiative known as the Pandemic of Love.
They had gained $13 million in funds and 150,000 in connections.
As of press time, the Pandemic of Love has spread to 16 countries, all with the same purpose of bridging the needy and the ones who can help.

Mindfulness teacher Shelly Tygielski and her local online grassroot initiative, Fort Lauderdale’s Pandemic of Love, has published good numbers for their projects: $13 million in funds and 150,000 connections.

To address the subsequent problems resulting from the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Shelly sensed an opportunity and used her social media influence to do some good.

“I wanted to turn from this environment of fear to an opportunity for us to create connection, community, and strengthen the bonds of love between us,” she said.

This connection-building initiative started after Shelly posted a video via Instagram. In the video, she told everyone about her new program and its goal: to connect those in need with those who can help.

The initiative was so well-accepted that the morning after the first post, Shelly has received 400 requests for help and 500 offers of support. The initiative also inspired others so much that several other communities cropped up under the same banner of Pandemic of Love.

According to Shelly, the requests were mostly food and supply assistance averaging at $150 each.

Reflecting on the project, Shelly shared that she originally meant for it to be a community project. However, she is not opposed to the idea of increasing its scope. In fact, she wished that the project will go ‘viral’ because she believes an outbreak of kindness can make a lot of difference and being ‘viral’ is not necessarily bad.