Feed the hungry — COVID 19
The Spring of 2020 was hit by massive pandemic that was anticipated by no one. We were not prepared!
A few weeks passed and we were all locked down in our homes. COVID 19 was not only going to be extremely nasty, sly and contagious virus but would also bring along a lot of problems caused by the ripple effect of this pandemic. I will continue to write a lot about many of those issues, but in this one, I want to address one of the immediate needs that struck me and deeply impacted me — Lack of food for the underprivileged and daily wagers!
While a lot of us were privileged to ‘work from home’, ‘stock our pantry’, ‘have food laid on our tables’, there were a lot of people — specially in a developing country like India where millions of daily wage workers were out of jobs. It meant no daily wages to buy ration to feed their families. I personally witnessed a few construction workers with their families and kids locked down in front of the house I was staying at in New Delhi. They were out of work as the construction work had to stop and had no food to buy any. That’s when it hit me the most.
That’s when I started looking for non-profits who are committed to doing the ground work to help the ones in need but started facing a real concern — lack of trust in who the funds truly go to. While I don’t question the integrity of non profits, I did find it really hard to navigate through the steps nonprofits take to ensure the donors money is going to the most needy. Of course, having no personal experience of working in one added to my level of ignorance. That’s when I decided to take matters into my hands.
I started this campaign ‘Feed the Hungry — Covid 19’ on Milaap. The intention behind the initiative was to ensure at least a few families get monthly ration and are not deprived of food for no fault of their own. It was simple. I contacted an old acquaintance who worked at Hope Worldwide school in the slums of Delhi, discussed the real status of the families whose children studied in the school and decided to start with the families of the children in his school. Next step was to activate my network of close friends who also supported me during this initiative and helped us raise enough to feed over 150 families of 4–5 for a month!
The initiative will not stop here and I hope to be able enough to continue running and supporting such initiatives. This experience taught me how much I need to be grateful for. It taught me how difficult can survival be for those who are not privileged.
Non profits in India need more help and support. Please dig in, ask questions, be involved. NOW is the time for solidarity. NOW is the time to share!
