Someone Stole 700 Whistles Donated to Protect Asian American Seniors in SF

April 2, 2021

A total of 700 whistles meant to protect Asian seniors from racial violence in San Francisco has been stolen this week.

The whistles, to be used in the event of a potential threat or attack, are part of an ongoing project called “When We Come Together,” which has donated at least 4,000 whistles throughout the city so far.

Volunteers assemble the whistles after picking them up from drop-off sites at Sunset District, Richmond District and Alemany Boulevard.

Boxes containing a total of 700 whistles were stolen from the Sunset location earlier this week, according to ABC 7 News.

“Seven hundred of these were stolen from our Sunset pick-up and drop-off location. If you see these please let us know. This is 700 less Asian elderly that will be able to have one of these to use if they feel unsafe,” organizers announced on their Instagram page on Wednesday.

Co-organizer Denise Bethel told ABC7 News, “We were sad because people wanted to help the community and help our elders feel safe and then for someone to come by during the day time and just steal whistles that wouldn’t benefit them anyway other than having an extra 700 whistles around was kind of heartbreaking.”

“When We Come Together” currently has a goal of handing out 10,000 whistles. For every $16 donation, 35 whistles — which come with lanyards and multilingual instructions — will be distributed, according to the organizers.

A GoFundMe page with a $15,000 goal has been set up to support the project. As of this writing, it has raised $10,600.

Aside from assembling whistles, volunteers may distribute them to passersby in high-traffic areas. They may also promote the project on social media. For more information, visit this link.

To apply as a volunteer, click here.

Feature Images via When We Come Together

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