The 21-day nationwide lockdown announced on March 23, 2020 to contain the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted everyday life as we knew it. The need for intervention and relief measures was critical and urgent during and after the lockdown, as communities struggled to get back on their feet.
IT for Change, in partnership with local businesses and NGOs and with the generous support of our donors, led and coordinated a range of critical relief initiatives in New Delhi, Bengaluru, and rural Mysuru during the lockdown in 2020.
Here’s a brief update on our relief work:
In New Delhi, in association with the Melting Pot Food company and the NGOs Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti and Jamghat, we provided cooked food to daily wage migrant workers and their families. We distributed 97,434 cooked meals.
In rural Mysuru, the IT for Change team worked with village heads, caste leaders, Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), Anganwadi workers, and elected representatives to distribute groceries and ORS to the most vulnerable and marginalized rural communities, including widows, single women, separated/divorced women, older women who did not have caregivers, families without ration cards, etc. We also provided masks, gloves, and sanitizers to frontline workers in the region. We distributed 702 grocery kits and spent INR 7,24,898 on relief efforts.
In Bengaluru, through the local, community-based Kaagaz Foundation, we provided rations and essential items such as soaps and basic medicines to families of the children studying in the schools we work with. We offered relief to 52 households through this effort.