The helping hands of our society need our help
By Chandan Mendiratta
This post was originally published on Zomato Blog on March 24, 2020.
Nearly 90% of India’s workforce belongs to the informal sector. That means, about 450 million Indians depend on daily wages to run their household.(1)
With the recent lockdowns in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, almost all of us have quickly adapted to working from home, while a large part of our community has been going to bed without knowing if they will be able to afford a meal for their family the next day. Workers at construction sites, shops, restaurants, delivery staff and local transport systems, the daily wager community has seen their only source of income come to a screeching halt, leaving them with no means to earn themselves a meal during these days of lockdown. Hunger and desperation prevails, and we can do something to help our fellow citizens.
Zomato Feeding India has initiated ‘Feed the Daily Wager’ to address this issue and help ensure that less people sleep hungry during this period of lockdowns.
What is ‘Feed the Daily Wager’?
As part of this campaign, we will provide food support to the daily wager communities that are currently unable to support their family’s food requirement. We have made ration kits containing wheat flour or rice, two types of pulses and a bar of soap required for a family of 5 for one whole week.
Each kit will cost us Rs.500 and will be delivered to locations across multiple cities. We have partnered with local NGOs across these cities to help us distribute these kits responsibly while adhering to the social distancing norms, to ensure safety of volunteers and beneficiaries.
For this, we will need a total fund support of Rs 25 crores from our donors.
Read more below to know how you can contribute.
Who can contribute?
Anyone and everyone who understands how important the daily wager community has been for our society and would like to help ensure they and their families don’t sleep hungry during these testing times, can contribute through our website.
How does it work?
Step 1: Select an amount that you wish to donate here. The amount required to feed one family of 5 for a week is Rs.500.
Step 2: We have partnered with the good folks at Grofers and Big Bazaar, to help us organize these ration kits across multiple cities. Once the donation is received, these ration kits will be delivered to a local hub in the city.
Step 3: We have partnered with multiple local NGOs who work for the development of these workers around their place of residence. They will help ensure that the kits are distributed responsibly and hygienically.
Step 4: We will send our contributors a transparency report on how and where their funds were utilized. This is a 100% not for profit campaign.
We are in this together
We have seen our supporters come together and help us rehabilitate 43,000 + people affected by floods during the recent natural calamities that struck our nation(2). This time, though the situation is much more challenging, our teams have taken it upon themselves to ensure there is food for everyone. It’s times like these that we all need to band together as a community and help each other survive these hard times.
Please donate using this link now, and help us help save the community. As much as we can.
And please spread the word. Here’s a Whatsapp message you can copy and send to your friends to help get the donations up.
In light of the growing restrictions caused by COVID-19, millions of daily wage workers have lost their livelihood and have no food to survive on. Please help by donating to ‘Feed the Daily Wager’ by Zomato Feeding India and provide food support to the daily wager community.
Click to donate — https://www.feedingindia.org/donate
