BENGALURU: Volunteers in Karnataka, who have been in the forefront from the start of the pandemic, started an initiative to help families who lost their breadwinners during the second wave of the pandemic. Between July and September, a total of Rs 1.35 crore was donated to over 450 beneficiaries. Each family received an amount of Rs 30,000 to meet their expenses.
COVID Helpline Bangalore, which compiled information on hospital beds, Covid testing centres and contacts of laboratories, partnered with GiveIndia to help the affected families. The support was for the underprivileged families who lost their income earners to Covid-19.
The initiative was a onetime cash relief support that started in July this year. Speaking to TNIE, Ameen Mudassir, Co-founder of COVID Helpline Bangalore, said, “We got in touch with the CEO of GiveIndia, who stated that they were willing to donate funds. Then, we shared a WhatsApp message, which stated people in need can fill an application on the covidhelplinebangalore. com website.
We received several requests. Then, a back-end team checked the applications. The applicants were called and asked to submit their Aadhar Cards, RT-PCR reports, BPL cards and other relevant documents. After verification, the team sent the applications to GiveIndia, who further conducted the second round of verification before releasing the funds.”