A group of
young-professionals in their twenties is extending help to support the lives of
poor in need. The all-girls group is serving cooked food and dry ration to the
destitute in Ranchi.
According to the team leader of this Ranchi-based group, Prerna Kumari, the team tries to reach out to over 200 people amidst the lockdown. On the professional front, Prerna works for a multinational company and she always wanted to do social service however was not getting a platform. Amidst the lockdown, a social media application ‘Instagram’ introduced her to the ‘Vishalakshi Foundation.’
“Initially, there was no one to support me except my family. Later, a few people joined and today we are a group of 40 members out of which 20 are very active,” said Prerna. She further added that most of our team members are still pursuing higher education, they take out time for studies.
“To save labour cost, we cook and distribute it among the poor. We target a particular area on the basis of leads received by our volunteers. Besides, we also provide dry ration to people who have lost jobs due to the ongoing Covid pandemic,” said Prerna.
In order to collect some money, the team appeals to the donors through social media, and the amount collected is used for buying groceries and vegetables. The food is distributed in packets.
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According to Mansi Goyal, who is a law student and is volunteering in the team said, our team prefers to distribute dry ration on weekdays and cooked food on weekends.
“On weekends, we make it a point to cook on our own and distribute the food among the poor,” she said.
“To reach out to the maximum number of people, we put up posters saying ‘Anybody who comes across any such person or family who need food or ration may contact us’. This has helped us providing us leads.”
Another volunteer Abilasha, who works for Wipro and is posted in Bengaluru, is presently working remotely from Ranchi. She said, “If I could help a single person, I would consider that my life has been a success. Initially, my parents opposed me but later they got used to it.”