To Our Brothers and Sisters in India at the Most Difficult Time of COVID-19
"And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." - Hebrews 13:16
Christian Relief Services has worked in some 80 countries since its founding in 1985 including Haiti, Lithuania, and several countries in sub-Saharan African including Kenya, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Zambia, and Zimbabwe providing relief and supporting our partners as “A Gentle Voice for Good.”
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic surging in India right now, Christian Relief Services is proud to be partnering with the Our AIM Foundation’s “Help India Now” campaign to provide relief support in the form of food packages to 1,000 families who have lost their source of income due to lockdowns and restrictions.
By the end of June, there have been more than 30 million confirmed cases reported and nearly 400,000 deaths, with the actual numbers likely far higher.
As the Our AIM Foundation noted in early June “lockdown is extended and a fear of a Third wave expected.” More than seven million people have lost their jobs due to the pandemic, such as the thousands of rickshaw drivers in Mumbai who have lost their only source of income as a result of the lockdown.
And the pandemic has only worsened a bad situation for the underprivileged members of society whose basic necessities including food, water, medication, and PPE, are not being met due to the “absence of Government support to the poor communities.”
The food packages sponsored by Christian Relief Services to the Our Aim Foundation for distribution by volunteers in the impoverished areas of Hyderabad, Delhi, and Gujarat, contain rice, lentils, beans, corn, salt, sugar, oil, tea, and more.
“The beneficiaries are selected based on weekly assessments of volunteers on the ground organize visits to slum areas, community hospitals, and poor areas of the targeted states,” program manager Salman Firoz Mirani told us. “This includes people who are homeless, drivers, house workers who lost their jobs, marginalized communities, sick people in community hospitals, and cancer hospital patients.”
Salman noted that it is the people in these communities “who are not receiving the help that they desperately need to stay healthy during the lockdown.
“A rapid surge in COVID-19 infection rates, as well as the subsequently devastating death toll, has resulted in a concerning situation for India’s health care system,” added Salman. “With limited access to health services and alarming shortages in necessities, the pandemic has exacerbated the poor living conditions of the underprivileged, especially in high-density areas.”
Bryan Krizek, President and CEO of Christian Relief Services, said he is pleased to be partnering with the Our AIM Foundation in this worthy endeavor of helping to alleviate hunger for the most impoverished in the country during their time of greatest need.