The lockdown has left many of us in the lurch. Many of us are lucky enough to have access to groceries, medicines and safe shelter, however, a large section of society has been left with no means to fulfil even basic needs. Here’s how Wishes and Blessings is helping the homeless and daily wage labourers cope with this emergency situation.
Q1. What is the situation like at the ground level?
The ground situation is something we have never seen before! Lakhs of daily wage labourers no longer have a regular source of income to fend for themselves and have been left stranded with nothing to call their own. Many of these underprivileged people survive on hand to mouth and have no savings to help them tide over this period of lockdown. The sight is shocking to say the least.
Q2. What are the current efforts taking place to improve the situation?
The Delhi government has done a commendable job in ensuring subsidisation of ration, monetary support as well as nutritional support to underprivileged people. Through DUSIB, they are feeding over numerous homeless people. Further, there are many societies, clubs and schools putting together fundraisers to purchase essential items for this demographic. While these efforts are appreciated, very often the aid does not reach who it is meant for as there are so many restrictions on the movement of citizens as well as vehicles. A proper distribution system is lacking.
Q3. How is Wishes and Blessings making a difference?
There has been a deluge of homeless people, daily wage labourers and their families across Delhi/NCR. It is no mean task to feed the lakhs of these people who have nothing to call their own. We aim to share the load with the government and other organizations working on the field and follow a step-by-step process.
We have converted our day care centres into shelter homes to ensure that the homeless have a safe space to stay till the lockdown is lifted. Hygiene supplies have been procured to safeguard the health of all.
We scaled up our Daily Meals Programme under which we serve 3 meals a day to over 600 underprivileged and homeless people. In the first week of the lockdown itself, we served meals to over 9,000 homeless and daily wagers on a daily basis, and have grown ever since.
The numbers on the ground are increasing day by day, and we’re trying to reach out to as many distressed people as possible. As of 27th June, we have served 16,60,100 meals, distributed 60,576 ration kits to over 9,000 families and provided over 20,000 hygiene kits across 7 states.
We are now serving 3 cooked meals/day to 1,950 beneficiaries (5,850 meals/day), and providing nutritional kits to 3,050 at-risk families across 5 states :
- Delhi
- Jharkhand
- Tamil Nadu
- Uttarakhand
- West Bengal
We have committed to executing relief until the 17th of July.
Q4. How are we ensuring the safety of all?
We are trying to adhere to the safety protocols as closely as possible. The meals are cooked under strict sanitary conditions and the team and volunteers wear safety gear at all times. At the centres, the beneficiaries sit at a distance of 1 m. We are trying to work as efficiently and as safely as possible within the limited conditions and space available. Our priority has and always will be the health of our beneficiaries.
Q5. How can you help?
Please spread the word on social media so that we can be connected to those who want to help and those who need help. You can also help those most affected by the lockdown by supporting us in our relief efforts:
We have vendors who are in the vicinity of the shelter homes. If you choose to donate monetarily to Wishes and Blessings, your donation will be used to pay these vendors to supply the goods directly to the shelter homes. All monetary donations will receive 80G tax exemption receipts.
You can donate through Paytm
https://paytm.com/helpinghand/wishes-blessings
Website
https://wishesandblessings.net/home/donate_now/
You can follow us on social media (@wishesandblessings) to get regular updates.