10 teens help raise ₹15L to fight pandemic
MUMBAI: A group of 10 teenagers from Mumbai have come together to help citizens from different walks of life to battle the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. A group of 16 year olds, collected ₹14.98 lakh that was used to help women self-help groups make masks, arrange personal protective equipment (PPE) kits and N95 masks for Covid warriors, and also help underprivileged students.
“Our group, Project Samvedna, was formed when the floods hit Maharashtra in 2019. At that time, we were able to help 650 families with rations, clothes, medicines, books and other relief materials,” said
Aditya Bhargava, a resident of Kandivli.
Bhargava and his friends from the Dhirubhai Ambani International School (DAIS) decided to come together again when the pandemic struck the city.
From April to June, they discussed ideas via video-conferencing, reached out to family and friends, created a website, made a video, and raised a request on a crowdfunding platform.
“We had a lot of ideas, but we narrowed them down to three issues where we could do our best in terms of funding and logistics,” said Anushree Mishra, a member of Project Samvedna.
Soon, with the help of the NGO Indian Development Foundation (IDF), the team provided 700 PPE kits and 3,000 N-95 masks to four hospitals in the city. They also provided 20 hands-free sanitiser units to 20 bal gurukuls in Mumbai and donated ₹1.20 lakhs to supply sanitary napkins to school-going girls.
Dr Narayan Iyer, chief executive officer at IDF, said, “The team enabled around 100 women to make masks that were sold later. We took forward their project and are looking to scaling it up.”
Kamya Parekh, a member of Project Samvedna, said that it was a “fulfilling experience” to work with her friends. “All of us knew we had to do something to help society. It was a lot of hard work, but it was a very fulfilling experience,” she said.