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Since COVID began, there has been a lot of misinformation
which has led to an increase in violence and racism
against Asians and Asian-Americans.
Our next guest have spent the past 11 months providing
food and resources for these communities
with their nonprofit Heart of Dinner from New York City.
Please welcome Moonlynn and Yin.
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HI.
Hi.
Hello, Moonlynn and Yin.
Thanks so much for being here Thanks for what you do.
Thank you so much.
Oh my gosh, we just have to tell you,
we've been in a relationship for 6 and 1/2 years
and you made a huge impact for our coming out story.
Our older generation and our family members,
they recognize you, they know you.
And because of you and what you've
done for the communities, it allowed us
to have an easier coming out.
And we feel so loved and accepted,
because they see that you're so happy
and you're doing so much to influence people.
Just had to let you know that.
Thank you so much.
Well, listen, your family has to be so proud of the two of you.
Your families must absolutely--
whatever they did, they raised you right,
because you're doing a lot of good.
Tell everybody about Heart of Dinner.
Yes, thank you so much, first of all.
In the spring of 2020 last year, our entire Asian
and Asian-American communities were experiencing
anti Asian racism firsthand, especially our elderly
were targeted specifically.
And these are elderly who reminded us
of our own grandparents, who can't speak English, who it's
hard for them to ask for help.
And we couldn't imagine this happening to our own grandmas
and grandpas.
And being able to see these videos happening of violence
towards them from the Chinatown in New York City all
the way to the Chinatown in San Francisco,
it was heartbreaking.
And we couldn't just sit by.
And we were gravitating towards countering isolation and food
insecurity because of this.
So I mean, I think I know why, and I think most people know
why, but tell us why you think the surge of hate
towards Asians and Asian-Americans is happening
and why it's so extreme.
Quite honestly, the previous leader
calling the coronavirus things like the China virus and Kong
flu very much allowed and encouraged a lot of people
to think that it was OK to think that we were the virus, not
realizing that we are just trying to survive just
like everyone else.
This is really reminiscent of a couple of decades
ago during the SARS epidemic.
And back then, I was in high school,
and I was too shy to stand up for myself.
But now, being in my mid 30s, us, both in our mid 30s,
we're able and we have a platform.
We're able to stand up to the racism geared towards us
and really be there for our community.
It's unbelievable that this is happening at all, much
less towards elderly people.
I've seen some of the videos.
And just knocking elderly people down, it's really unbelievable.
And I know this is something that even you all have
experienced firsthand, right?
Yes, unfortunately, but not surprisingly.
It was actually a fear.
It was just a matter of time was our gut feeling.
And lo and behold, eventually, this man lean towards me
and said very nasty profane things.
And the basic gist of it the PG version
is go back to where you're from.
And he would not get away from my space.
He was just a few inches away.
And I had a friend, we were talking,
and she's a photographer in New York City,
and she was shooting, and a guy came up to her,
spat in her face, and just left.
And just the other day, I was walking towards Target,
there was a guy opening the door for everybody.
And there was an Asian elderly, she
must have been in her mid 80s, coming not too
far from everybody else.
He opened the door for everybody then slammed the door right
in her face.
So she wasn't able to get in, but everybody else was.
So it's been happening on the day to day.
It's horrible.
And I can't even imagine--
thank God y'all are doing what you're doing.
Every Wednesday, you distribute food to the community.
And people are writing personal notes
to put in there so people get notes.
I mean, when did this start?
Oh my gosh.
Approaching a year.
Yeah.
It's exciting, but it's also unfortunate
that it's almost a year.
Exactly.
And we started actually researching
right around this time exactly a year ago.
The last two weeks of March, we're
calling around to see how we could truly
make an impact for the senior community.
And immediately, April 1st, we started our very first meal
preparation and deliveries.
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Y'all are amazing.
OK, we have to take a break.
We're going to talk more with Moonlynn and Yin after this.
Y'all are amazing.
OK, so how many meals do you think that y'all have served?
We're going to hit 60,000 this upcoming week.
So we're super excited for that.
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Amazing.
OK, you've talked about turning care into action.
How can people at home watching this--
I can't imagine that everyone watching
isn't outraged by this.
So how can we help?
Thank you so much for encouraging this Ellen.
Absolutely, for us, for me, I don't speak Chinese very well,
and I also unfortunately didn't really
learn how to properly read Chinese.
But what I did was use Google Translate,
put what exactly what I wanted to say,
a heartfelt message, translated over to the Asian language
and put so much heart and soul into copying down
each and every stroke of the character carefully.
And anyone can do that.
And especially, if anyone could just
help us spread the word and awareness
about our elderly community, letting
them know about Heart of Dinner's work,
that does so much for us.
So thank you so much.
Thank you.
Of course.
Well, we want to help.
Shutterfly cares about what you're doing
and wants to support your organization.
So they're going to give Heart of Dinner a check for $20,000.
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Are you serious?
[INAUDIBLE]
We are happy to help.
And before we go, I want to say that I
stand with the Asian-American Pacific Islander Community
against the hate and violence that has risen
during the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you want to join me in this stand against racism
and learn more about Heart of Dinner,
please go to ellentube.com, see how you can get involved.