In early 2020, the world was posed with a challenge in the form of Covid-19. Everything came to a standstill and lockdown was imposed in India for the betterment of the people.
A lot of us were in the comfort of our homes, with our families, our jobs were intact and the only major difference was Work from Office changed to Work from Home. But the uncertainty of the future was worrying, especially for those who had lost their earnings during this time. Going about their life in itself was proving out to be a big task for them. The only light of hope they had were the people still working to make everyone’s life easier.
We do realize that something needs to be done but to actually get up and do something is another ball game altogether. It requires hard work, motivation and a sense of responsibility towards the society we live in. In the city of Kanpur, we were lucky to have organizations like Campus Haat, Help Others Foundation, Kanpur Parivartan Forum, and the donors throughout the city who contributed and came together to organize donation drives for the ones in need during this lockdown.
I personally learned a lot during the process of writing about this. Their actions had a deep impact on me and I am sure will impact you too.
Stay for the Stray:
The lockdown was hard not only for people but also for stray dogs. Generally feeding on the restaurant leftovers, the poor stray dogs were helpless. In April, volunteers from Campus Haat and Help Others Foundation decided to take the matter in their own hands. With so many to dogs to feed, they organized a fundraiser and the goodness in people’s hearts made it a huge success raising 7k. The volunteers gathered large quantities of bread, biscuits and milk and the preparation was done. This all was happening in the month of April and it was not yet known if animals, especially dogs can contract Covid-19 from humans. So the volunteers took extra measures while feeding them. Feeding twice to thrice a week, they fed around 500+ dogs in the area of IIT Kanpur, Nankari and Gooba. These pictures show the happy dogs and volunteers.
Spreading awareness with kindness:
Maintaining hygiene and keeping healthy is the most important task to prevent contracting Covid-19. However, not everyone had easy access to either essential or hygiene supplies. The volunteers recognized this and extended their efforts towards the underprivileged section of the society. Raising a sum of around 1Lac from the donors, Campus Haat and HOF conducted a donation drive for ration kits, masks, and sanitary napkins. The volunteers distributed around 1200+ ration packets, 2000 masks (homemade cloth masks), and 350+ sanitary pads (by Niine Foundation). Along with distribution, the volunteers also spread awareness about menstrual hygiene and using safe menstrual products like sanitary napkins. Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) representative, commonly known as Asha Bahu was a main element in the donation drive and spreading awareness. She, along with the volunteers personally went for giving the supplies to the needy. It was heartening to see people’s responses.
Creating Community:
While the government was providing all it could to the needy there was one issue which was not very visible. Not all the people were very comfortable standing in line for the ration or asking for help in front of their family or peers. Having lost one’s earning means, it is natural to feel low and have less self-confidence. In such a delicate situation, a sensitive and empathetic approach is needed. People from Kanpur Parivartan Forum realized this. Their initiative was not just limited to distributing ration kits. With the help of
Campus Haat and IIT Kanpur with support from Unnat Bharat Abhiyan set up a call center where people can call and ask for help regarding essential supplies. This whole process was anonymous and the ration kits were couriered to the people. Through the 2000+ calls received, around 600-700 ration packets were distributed. One more amazing thing about this initiative was the inclusion of the ‘Sahayog’ app. Through this app, the employment data of people was taken and it created a database of the ones seeking job opportunities in this crucial time. They shared the gathered data with the Kanpur city administration so that the people can be connected with the ones providing jobs.
When Kanpur Parivartan Forum reached out later to have a check-in on the people, the response was heartening to listen to. It was evident how much this meant to them and their family.
One of them said, “Thank you for all you have done for us. I can’t express in words how much I appreciate this. I also would have loved to become a part of this drive if my condition would have been better.”
Another response received was, “I really appreciate that anonymity was maintained throughout. We felt safe and understood. Thank you so much for your kindness.”
These articles published in some local newspapers talk about the IMPACT!
Through all these stories, it is pretty evident that it does take a compassionate person to actually understand the issues and do something about it and the actions with good intentions have an everlasting impact on people.
You can check out all the amazing work these organizations are doing on their social media tagged here.
Campus Haat – Facebook and Instagram
Help Others Foundation – Facebook and Instagram
Kanpur Parivartan Forum – Facebook and Instagram