As the COVID-19 crisis continues, the needs of under-resourced communities intensify. Food insecurity has increased by 460% since the start of the pandemic. Students who receive free or subsidized lunch at school and home-bound seniors have been especially hard hit by closures and social distancing orders. Should unemployment and poverty increase to the level of the Great Recession, 9.9 million more people may experience food insecurity.

To meet crucial food access gaps, Lyft announced an expansion of its longstanding partnership with Mastercard earlier this year to directly fund LyftUp initiatives focused on providing access to essential rides and delivery services to those most in need during this time. Mastercard's funding makes it possible to deliver healthy meals to low-income seniors, and families and children while schools are closed. 

To date, Lyft and Mastercard have helped deliver 1 million healthy meals through over 10 partners during COVID-19:

“When the people of El Paso needed help, Lyft was there. Lyft drivers made tens of thousands of grocery deliveries to El Pasoans who were unable to leave their homes, many quarantined with active cases of COVID-19. I am grateful to Lyft and Lyft drivers for helping us in our hour of need,” said Former Congressman, Beto O’Rourke, Powered by People

“At Mastercard we remain committed to working with our partners to help identify and meet the needs of under-served communities during this uncertain time,” said Sherri Haymond, executive vice president, Digital Partnerships, Mastercard. “We are proud to support the LyftUp initiative and enable the delivery of healthy meals and transportation services to those who need it most, while directly impacting and creating opportunity for the driver community.”     

The meals are delivered in part by the LyftUp Community Driver Task Force — our community of over 120,000 drivers from across the country who have signed up to support community-oriented trips. All deliveries are contactless, and drivers are paid for these rides.

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Lyft activated more than 500 LyftUp partners to provide thousands of free ride credits to those with essential transportation needs, including low-income seniors, families with children, healthcare workers, and more. More than 40% of our LyftUp partners have provided access to ride credits to support communities with food insecurity. 

We’re here to help

Lyft has many available resources for partners of all kinds seeking to use transportation to provide help for their communities, including the following: