A group ofyoung-professionals in their twenties is extending help to support the lives ofpoor in need. The all-girls group is serving cooked food and dry ration to thedestitute in Ranchi.
According tothe team leader of this Ranchi-based group, Prerna Kumari, the team tries toreach out to over 200 people amidst the lockdown. On the professional front,Prerna works for a multinational company and she always wanted to do socialservice however was not getting a platform. Amidst the lockdown, a social mediaapplication ‘Instagram’ introduced her to the ‘Vishalakshi Foundation.’
“Initially,there was no one to support me except my family. Later, a few peoplejoined 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 stillpursuing higher education, they take out time for studies.
“To savelabour cost, we cook and distribute it among the poor. We targeta 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 theongoing Covid pandemic,” said Prerna.
In order tocollect some money, the team appeals to the donors through social media, and theamount collected is used for buying groceries and vegetables. The food isdistributed in packets.
According toMansi 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 onweekends.
“On weekends, we make it a point to cook onour own and distribute the food among the poor,” she said.
“To reach out to the maximum number ofpeople, we put up posters saying ‘Anybody who comes across any such person orfamily who need food or ration may contact us’. This has helped us providing usleads.”
Another volunteer Abilasha, who works for Wiproand is posted in Bengaluru, is presently working remotely from Ranchi. Shesaid, “If I could help a single person, I would consider that my life has beena success. Initially, my parents opposed me but later they got used to it.”