Two Class X students of Modern High School for Girls have distributed over 1,500 free meal boxes across Kolkata and also helped raise funds for those affected by COVID-19.
When the COVID-19 second wave was wreaking havoc across India, Brisha Jain and Sneh Yadav were working with a quiet resolve to reach out and help COVID-affected families, especially the needy.
Having experienced COVID-19 first-hand in the family, Brisha and Sneh set about distributing free meals, raising funds and creating a database of resources.
COV-AID, the initiative launched by Brisha and Sneh in May 2021, also collaborated with The Food Project, an organisation with a mission to eradicate hunger and reduce wastage of food, and distributed 75 meal boxes in parts of south Kolkata. These meal boxes were provided by a catering service called Epikyoor, owned by Darshana Jain, Brisha’s aunt.
Meal boxes distributed by COV-AID. Brisha Jain and Sneh Yadav
In their most recent collaboration with Send a Meal, a student-led group, the girls distributed 60 food packets among the needy in the Charu Market area of Kolkata in August.
“Our objective was to provide immediate help and we feel that we have fulfilled that. We will resume meal services if the need arises,” Sneh said.
The girls have since shifted focus to motivating people to get vaccinated. The latest addition to the COV-AID website is a ‘vaccination’ button, clicking on which opens a list of vaccination centres with addresses. They have also tried to spread awareness about the need for vaccination.
Creating a resource pool
Brisha and Sneh started out by collating information about availability of hospital beds and oxygen cylinders when Kolkata was hit by a severe shortage of resources at the peak of the second wave.
Helped by friends, they picked up information from various social media platforms, verified the sources and compiled them on a single platform. Over numerous Zoom meetings, many Docs and Sheets were created, shared and updated constantly.
“Both Brisha and I had a clear idea of how the website would look like. Brisha also has Computer Science as her third elective, so she had readied a layout for the website. Our main objective was to launch a user-friendly website that is easily accessible to people,” Sneh said. The website allows people to request for the resources they need.
The helplessness of the underprivileged in the face of the coronavirus touched a chord with the girls. They started distributing 100-plus free meal boxes every day, mostly in slum areas. The meals were sourced from Epikyoor, a food service owned by Darshana Jain, Brisha’s aunt. COV-AID acted as the medium.
COV-AID also raised around Rs 3 lakh by accepting donations on the website.
Brisha and Sneh at the Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar, where they handed over money collected as donation for COVID relief. Brisha Jain and Sneh Yadav
The girls were helped by their parents in management of the funds. “Our funds were used for our free meal services and both of us had the opportunity to learn about the financial aspects that help push any initiative to its maximum potential,” Brisha said.
Busy preparing for their board examinations, the girls have paused COV-AID services for a while, but with a promise to come back and do more. Their plans include helping children who have suffered learning loss because of the pandemic.
Last updated on 24 Oct 2021
