Update May 21, 2021 ~
Thank you all for your support. This project has concluded.

Together we have raised $2271.76. All of this will go toward COVID relief in India. I am filled with gratitude for all of you!

I have detailed below the 3 charities I have distributed the funds to and a little bit about the specific work that each of them do. The receipts and acknowledgement letters are attached. 

1 Million Meals campaign for excluded women - victims of sex-trafficking and their children during this Covid-19 crisis.

The project serves over a million meals, essential medicines, computers, wi-fi, oxygen to women & children in red-light areas, migrant slums and refugee camps for the next 180 days. Apne Aap is ensuring food ration & hygiene packs of medicines, masks, soap & sanitary pads for 50,000 adult women & their children and coordinating access to oxygen, vaccination and hospitals. This will ensure basic survival till the government comes up with a plan beyond the lockdown. 

The wave of infections is now reaching the remote rural areas. 'Wild Surakshe' and 'Adopt a Primary Healthcare Center' programs by CWS engage with frontline government health and forest department staff, grassroots community organizations, and leaders to understand and cope with COVID-19, other zoonotic diseases, the human-wildlife conflict and seeks to bring villagers in and around wildlife reserves awareness about health and safety. Funding helps Primary Health Centers (PHCs) in rural areas close to wildlife reserves, by providing them essential supplies like face shields, masks, PPE kits, gloves, oximeters, thermal scanners, sanitizers, etc. CWS’ strong ground presence in rural Karnataka and Goa, enables them to observe the devastating impacts of COVID-19 in rural India first hand. They are focusing their field efforts on PHCs with a goal to bolster 100 primary health care centers. So far, the CWS team has identified and contacted 152 key PHCs they can directly reach and support.

In the style of extended Indian families, my cousin Manish works for Manoj Bhargava who runs The Hans Foundation, which has a wonderful infrastructure in place to support health and education in India for many years. All funds donated go directly to helping the people since all administrative costs and overhead have already been met. The foundation is a Public Charitable Trust that provides funding support to Not-for-Profit organizations in India. The main areas of focus are education, health, livelihoods and disability and programs are majorly implemented in the most rural and under-developed areas in the country. The Hans Foundation is matching all donations 100% to double our COVID relief impact.

To date:
1000 Oxygen concentrators pledged
1000 Hospital beds pledged
3000 Oximeters pledged

There are many organizations doing amazing work in India.  I selected these because of my confidence in their ongoing work - even in better times - to uplift the underprivileged in areas of hunger, health and education, to protect and fight for the rights of the extremely poor and their in-depth understanding of the communities they serve and what support is needed. Thank you once again, there is so much strife in the world, it is hard to know what to do sometimes. I will leave you with this wish for us all ~

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu | लोकः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु

Lokah ~ realm, universe
Samastah ~ all beings
Sukhino ~ free from suffering
Bhav ~ state of unified existence
Antu ~ may it be so

May all beings everywhere be happy and free, and may the thoughts, words, and actions of my own life contribute in some way to that happiness and to that freedom for all.

With love, 
Sarina