Yandex summed up the first results of the social project “Help is near”, launched in late March.
At the start of the project, Yandex invested 250 million rubles in it, which went into re-equipment and regular disinfection of cars, debugging logistics, paying for driver trips at the first stage of work in new cities, and paying for coronavirus tests. Since April 13, when Yandex announced the collection of donations, people and organizations transferred about 30 million rubles to the project fund.
Help is near Yandex
“In a month, 17 thousand people donated money to help those who need it. In such a difficult time, your support is especially important. Thank you!” – says Olga Nikitushkina, head of Yandex’s social project “Help is nearby.”
Since the start of the project, Yandex has helped medical workers visit more than 80 thousand patients at home, connecting hospitals in 24 cities of Russia. Next in line are medical institutions in another 63 cities, which also sought help. Already now, only 2 million rubles are spent daily on paying for trips of doctors from the project fund.
In 10 cities, Yandex helps with the delivery of food packages to the poor, retirees, people with disabilities, large families, and single-parent families. More than 20 thousand families have already received food packages in Izhevsk, Voronezh, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, and other cities. In St. Petersburg, together with Lenta, Yandex also delivers meals to doctors at hospitals where patients with coronavirus are lying. Companies deliver more than 400 lunches daily.
Within the framework of the project, Yandex also organizes the transportation of employees of non-profit organizations that care for the elderly, patients with cancer and autoimmune diseases, and people with weakened immune systems. 21 NGOs have already joined the project, including the Cancer Prevention Fund, the Vera Hospice Support Fund, and the DonorSearch project. Yandex has already helped organize about 15 thousand trips, including about 5 thousand trips to medical workers in hospices, 5.5 thousand trips of donors to donor centers, and about 2 thousand trips of doctors and cancer patients.
Since April 20, Yandex has conducted free home testing for coronavirus in Moscow, highlighting 10 thousand free tests at the first stage. Drivers drove medical lab workers to the addresses to collect tests on COVID-19 and back to the lab. Later, free testing was also launched in St. Petersburg and Ivanovo. To date, Yandex, together with its partner laboratories, has already organized more than 20 thousand free tests at home.
Now more and more laboratories in Russia are doing tests for coronavirus, and passing them is easier than a month ago. In Moscow, where tests were especially in demand, from May 15, mass-free testing for antibodies to coronavirus begins. Therefore, Yandex is completing the phase of the test distribution project and will devote all resources to organizing trips for doctors and social workers who are still working under increased load conditions.
Recall, in the framework of the project, Yandex opened a donation form on help.yandex.ru . With its help, any person or organization can transfer funds to pay for drivers’ time, which helps people in different regions of the country.
