#PPCovid19Relief Update

One aspect of crises of all kinds is that they are unpredictable.

While we began with a goal of serving 250 families in the 4 villages around our campus with 15-days of rations.

However, before we had even begun distributing rations, some employees and volunteers began calling to tell us about people in their villages who had already gone a few days without food. All of these people live within 5 kilometers of our eArthshala campus and we’ve engaged with all before via various programs and outreach activities.

Given the fact that there were people in imminent danger, we made a slight change to our initial relief plan, and decided instead to give:

• 10-day relief packets to the initial 250 families identified
• 5-day relief packets to another 250 families who have been / are being identified in real time, as per need.

Hence, we are now going to be providing relief to 500 families and 2,500 people in total.

In reality, we believe that in the 6 panchayats around our campus, there are likely about 60,000 people (out of approximately 85,000) who are facing hunger and food shortages. So the need is much greater than we are currently being able to fulfill. Toward that end, we will continue working to bring in more relief and resources through partners and other donors.

On the other hand, we are grateful to so many people for sharing during a time which is difficult and uncertain for everyone. We will continue to share updates as the situation evolves.