A woman has raised over $100,000 in just two days to pay for taxi rides for Asian Americans, after constantly seeing news reports about the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes.
Maddy Park, a resident of New York City, felt scared seeing the spike in hate crimes across the country, and especially in New York.
She told ABC News’ New York City station WABC, “Last week I took the train. It was a 30-minute commute and I realized every minute of that commute I was terrified. 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.”
The experience made Park consider using a taxi to get around. But she knew that while she could afford a taxi, many others in New York City — especially Asian American women and seniors — could not. So with $2,000 of her own money, and with the help of some friends, she started an Instagram page called @CafeMaddyCab with the purpose of paying for cab rides for the community.
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“I just said look, I have $2,000, if you need a ride, just charge me on Venmo,” Park said.
Within 48 hours, Park raised more than $100,000 to pay for cab rides. “It really opened my eyes to how many people are actually supporting the Asian community in New York City,” Park said.
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In fact, according to a post on their Instagram page, Park’s project has been so successful that donations had to be temporarily closed after running into the “weekly limit of payouts due to Venmo Regulations.”
The only other roadblock: not all senior citizens know how to use Venmo. But Park is looking at ways to expand payment options so that seniors who need the service will be able to access it.
