Beyoncé and her mother are helping to fund COVID-19 testing facilities in Houston.
Beyoncé Knowles and Tina Knowles Lawson are doing their part in the fight against the ongoing spread of the coronavirus. The women of Houston are initiating a free service for mobile testing in their city starting this Friday. According to a public statement shared via Beyoncé’s website, the singer’s non-profit organization, BeyGOOD, has teamed up with her mom to launch the #IDidMyPart campaign. The goal is to mobilize free testing to help people, especially in black communities to manage their health in the midst of the progressing coronavirus pandemic.
Mobile facilities will be stationed at two locations in Houston this Friday (May 8) and Saturday (May 9) offering free testing and will be available right in time for Mother’s Day this weekend. Beyoncé and her foundation, along with mama Knowles, are reportedly donating 1,000 test kits along with other essentials like vitamins, gloves, and face masks. Also, the participants will receive gift cards for groceries, and both the testers and the testees will additionally receive a complimentary hot meal voucher for one of two of Houston’s favorite restaurants.
The ultimate objective of the campaign is to encourage other celebrities and organizations to influence each other to help subsidize COVID-19 testing in their area. Tyler Perry has reportedly accepted the call to join the #IDidMyPart initiative and will help facilitate testing efforts in Atlanta, Georgia as well as prompt another celebrity to keep the movement going.
“We are all in this together. But we have to look at what is happening in our Black and Brown communities and how they are being decimated by COVID-19,” Tina Knowles Lawson said in a press release. “It is critical that we stay vigilant with social distancing, wearing a mask, and most of all getting tested. If you don’t get tested then you don’t know if you are a carrier of the virus. Being asymptomatic is how you infect your entire household and those around you, the very people you love. We have got to go to these free testing facilities and find out our status.”
Beyoncé’s BeyGOOD Foundation has already donated $6 million to organizations supporting COVID-19 relief efforts. This new mobile testing campaign is not just an innovative and brilliant idea, but it falls right into the pocket of the most effective way to carry out the solution as people won’t even have to exit their vehicles to participate.
