People are once again confined to their homes as the country faces rapid surge in Covid-19 cases. In light of this, states have imposed strict lockdown in various places to bring down the spread of virus. This has impacted the livelihood of people belonging to different sections of the society. Families are struggling to make the ends meet as they can’t afford to pay for basic necessities during this lockdown.
Volunteers, non-governmental organisations and other firms are trying to assist the poor and the needy in receiving medications and other necessities. As part of such activities, the Mangaluru-based Save Life Charitable Trust (R) has launched an initiative to distribute grocery products worth Rs 1500/- to 400 families in the city.
“I used to do fund raising for families who couldn’t afford medical care until we started Save Life Charitable Trust. We have so far provided over 1.1 crore to more than 200 families for medical care, house building, and for other social causes. Then we registered Save Life and started our operations in the city. We are now in our tenth month as a charitable trust,” said Arjun Bhandarkar, President of Save Life Charitable Trust.
He said that the organisation has been actively contributing to the needs of the people in Mangaluru and Bantwal since the lockdown last year. “The situation is not the same this time and government has only considered low-income households to provide essential items. As a result, people who are not below the poverty line are not given any assistance from the government,” said Arjun.
People do get free rice and a limited number of groceries but that is not enough for them to survive a month. “Since people are not working during this lockdown, they are unable to purchase groceries as they can’t afford it. So, this is how we came up with the idea of distributing grocery kits to deserving families by raising funds,” added Arjun. Through crowd funding the organisation was able to raise Rs 3 lakh so far.
Arjun went on to say that, “We have been double-checking to see if their need is real. We have partnered with a number of communities to track down the families. Our goal is to assist someone who does not have access to essentials and to ensure that our actions have a positive effect on their livelihood.”
At a time like this when even the government is facing limitations due to scarcity of resources, Arjun hopes that through this initiative, he will be able to support to people in his vicinity by providing them with the essential things needed for survival.
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