Selfless act: Hyderabad's good samaritans help those in need amid COVID crisis

HYDERABAD: With the country in dire straits due to the deadly coronavirus, many people have voluntarily been lending a hand, doing their bit. With shortage of food and medicines, these good samaritans have been pro-active, ensuring that those in need get the help during these difficult times.

Take the case of D Surender Babu, who has been running a web portal called 'Feed The Poor', an initiative which aims to aid people in the rural areas by providing food and medicines. Surender and his team basically gets donations from those who can help and they'll deliver what they get to people who are often neglected.

"We often neglect the people who live in rural areas during the time of crisis. The fact is that they are the ones who are most affected. People affected by coronavirus in villages do not have enough financial support, so I decided to provide them with minimal facilities. People can check out feedthepoor.in and then fill in their details as to what they want to donate," Surender said.

"We will come and pick it up from their mentioned addresses or they can also donate medicines and groceries through online sites where these sites would drop them to our address and we would distribute them to the people who are in need of it," he added.

Gowri Bakaraju's initiative also aims to help people from humble backgrounds. Having witnessed her relatives suffer, the youngster, in her 20s, was motivated to ensure that others don't. The youngster has been risking her own life to serve food to those in need at various hospitals in the city. 

"I got the idea of serving food to those who are underprivileged when I witnessed an incident in my family. About 11 people were affected with the virus and there were kids among them. These people were not able to cook their own food and then I thought about the people who are not privileged enough to have even one meal and so I decided to do my part. I decided to serve food to the people who are at the hospitals," she said.

Gowri and her mother had apprehensions at the start but with two volunteers on board, they have been feeding around 100 people daily. "At first, I was scared I would get infected as I was doing it all alone while my mother cooked all the food. Then Vyshali Somanchi and Surya Somanchi approached me to help me out and volunteer for this work. Since then, we have been doing this together. It feels good when you help those in need. I feel if more people can take such initiatives, it would help our country. I have been feeding around 100 people daily and I wish to give more to those in need during these tough times," she added.