GiveIndia launches mission to support coronavirus-hit families

Online platform GiveIndia has started a mission to support families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in India, which is likely to result in loss of livelihoods for a very large number of people -- especially among the daily wage workers.

New Delhi [India], Mar 26 : Online platform GiveIndia has started a mission to support families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in India, which is likely to result in loss of livelihoods for a very large number of people -- especially among the daily wage workers.

About 80 per cent of those employed in India are in the unorgsed sector and will be deeply affected in the coming months, it said on Thursday.

Even as the government is stepping up in several ways, including providing income support, to help such families in the coming months, families living on the margins will require additional support to tide over these difficult times.

Towards this, GiveIndia has partnered with the most credible non-profits to help families in need and prevent the spread of the coronavirus in India.

Under the mission, GiveIndia has launched two initiatives to help the disadvantaged and support families -- to provide a safety net for the economic toll and to provide protection against the virus.

While one will help daily wagers put food on the plate, the second will provide hygiene kits to underprivileged families across India who do not have access to soaps, stisers and masks. This initiative also aims to support people at the frontline in hospitals as well.

Every donation will go a long way in stemming the spread of the virus and supporting vulnerable families to tide over COVID-19. In the three days since it launched the campaign, GiveIndia has raised over Rs 1.5 crore from over 6,000 donors.

GiveIndia has partnered and is working closely with trusted NGOs such as CRY, Helpage, Goonj, Bhumi, Oxfam, ActionAid, Team Everest, SPPD, Vidya Poshak, St Jude, Habitat for Humty, and Sevalaya among other reputed not-for-profit orgsations.

GiveIndia's corporate partners including Omidyar Network India, McKinsey, AU Small Finance Bank, Meesho, Genpact, Flipkart, Myntra and Jardine Llyod Thompson have also initiated employee giving campaigns with GiveIndia.

Most of the corporates will match the donations made by employees in response to the COVID-19 crisis.

"We have launched this campaign as an emergency response to help provide a safety net to casual labour families," said Chief Executive Officer of GiveIndia Atul Satija.

"With this fund, we aim to directly support these families by providing a minimum wage in cash, hopefully with your support till the virus abates and they are in employment again."

The whole world is suffering, but those without any job security or savings are the most vulnerable, said Satija.

( With inputs from ANI )