Resident creates COVID-19 newsletter to serve her community

A resident from Xuhui district in Shanghai has created a temporary e-newsletter to promote voluntary efforts in the neighborhood she lives in during ongoing lockdown.

The bilingual newsletter provides residents from the No 6 Yongfu Community with epidemic prevention tips, ration distribution notices, and neighborhood epidemic situation updates, according to Wang Zhumin, the publisher and editor of the newsletter.

The latest issue, which was published on May 5, contains information on nucleic acid testing, ration distribution, group purchasing and donations in the neighborhood in April.

"This is an old community without official estate management and the neighborhood committee it belongs to is in charge of several other communities," Wang said.

"Many residents, including my husband, have served as volunteers for the community. However, as a mother-to-be, I'm not able to work on the frontline, so I created the newsletter."

Leveraging her past experience as a social media specialist at Hasco Vision, a local automotive electronics system provider, Wang created content, collected photos from the committee and produced videos for the newsletter. She also initiated a donation of epidemic prevention materials for volunteers through her newsletters.

"The stories of the volunteers and the committee in the newsletter have bridged residents and the neighborhood and eased residents' concerns about the current situation in the community," she said.

Photos of volunteers arranging supplies late at night that were published in the newsletter has even motivated more people to become volunteers.

The current volunteer team of 22 people are divided into three groups that manage group purchasing, organize nucleic acid testing and handle matters such as disinfection.