Happy List 2020: GoFundMe helps spread positivity around the world during the pandemic

Campaigns such as Helping Dress Medics shine bright during dark times – now it’s time to celebrate those doing good

When former medic Tara volunteered to return to work for the NHS at the start of the Covid-19 crisis, she hit a snag: it was impossible to get hold of a uniform. Somewhere north of the Cotswolds, one woman had the answer. Tara became the first of many medics, including those already working in the NHS, to be sent made-to-measure scrubs by a team of professional costume designers who have worked on TV shows including His Dark Materials and Downton Abbey.

The Helping Dress Medics campaign is led by Dulcie Scott and fuelled by people power. As of the middle of May, more than 1,700 donors have helped it raise almost £100,000 on GoFundMe to further its work.

The Helping Dress Medics story has been told through updates on its campaign, from the YouTube video of Tara, that first medic, to an image of a junior doctor clad in scrubs designed by the same woman who made Tom Hardy’s clothes for Taboo.

It’s members are making a huge difference, alongside millions of others. In the weeks since the UK saw its first Covid-19 cases Britons have started more than 5,000 campaigns on GoFundMe just to help make scrubs or PPE. We’ve seen eight-year-old Nahla-Rose making visors for NHS staff during the school holidays using her grandmother’s 3D printer, a wave of nonagenarians inspired to fundraise for the NHS, and those of every age in between. And it goes beyond kitting out medics. There are the group of furloughed workers using their spare time to make healthy meals for health workers, the Michelin starred chef feeding the vulnerable, the campaigners working on a community fund to help bereaved Bame families, the Italian Instagram influencers raising millions to extend intensive care beds and the Irish people who donated thousands to Native Americans to repay an old favour.

Nahla-Rose Bartlett-Vanderpuye, who makes visors using 3D printing for NHS staff (Nahla-Rose Bartlett-Vanderpuye who makes visors using for NHS staff)

These GoFundMe campaigns have changed countless lives. Each one is different, but each one has this in common: they show kindness can change the world. The Independent’s Happy List is all about celebrating that very thing. Kindness is a concept that powers GoFundMe as much as any tech does, and why we’re so proud to be a part of this project. We’re especially proud to celebrate the people helping others during what has been such a difficult and tragic time. We also want to celebrate the army of supporters behind them. Every donor makes a difference, and in these tough times when so many can’t chip in, even just a share is worth so much.

Few things have made the power of kindness clearer than our community’s response to the Covid-19 crisis. Whether you’re fundraising for an initiative, charity, a bereaved family or just to get by we are a place where anyone can take action at the touch of a button on the internet; start a campaign, find a community of helpers. We will be with you at every stage along the way, from the very moment you start your fundraising.

The Independent’s Happy List 2020: Heroes In A Crisis in a crisis is a way to bring us together, and to spread a little more happiness.

Nominate someone you know for the Happy List 2020: Heroes In A Crisis​ via this form. They might be a neighbour who goes out of their way to keep someone else going; a tireless food bank volunteer; an unsung saviour of animals, or the brains behind an innovation that makes lockdown that little bit more bearable. Whoever they are, and wherever they live in Britain, we want to hear about them. Nominations close at midnight on Sunday 14 June 2020, and the List will be published later in the summer.