She for Society has delivered rations to families who are in need, identifying them with the help of the police. So far they have distributed to 200 families, including the transgender community and a few orphanages
Since the day the lock-down was announced, a team of close to 15 women bikers from Bengaluru-based NGO She for Society, founded by biker Harshini Venkatesh in 2017, has been distributing rations to families in need in areas in the city that have hardly been identified. Each packet contains 8 kilograms rice, 2 kilograms dal, 2 kilograms wheat, 1/2 litre oil, salt, churmuri, biscuit packet and 1/4 kilogram chillies. “A lot of poverty-stricken families are not able to acquire essential necessities as they cannot earn money amidst this crisis. This has come to our attention and we mean to help all these families struggling during this lock-down,” says Harshini. She For Society also helps families of Army jawans.
Speaking about how they went about providing rations, Harshini says: “The team raised funds in about three days. We were well equipped to provide essential ration sufficient for a month to over 200 families.” Harshini stresses the importance of conducting thorough groundwork. “This is necessary to identify the families who are in dire need of rations. It has come to our attention that a lot of people are trying to take advantage of the services provided by similar organisations and people. The survey took almost a day for our team to identify all the families in need. We have also cross-checked with the respective police stations of the area to get a list of names of all the beneficiaries.”
They distributed rations to the Weavers colony. “This area was not identified by the government as needing essential services. The people were very thankful to our team. Ramasandra was also not recognised by the government or NGOs. We acquired a list of all the families in the area with assistance from the police in that area.”
They also supplied to transgender communities in the city. “As a society we are very insensitive to the transgender community. They are part of our society and are equally if not even more affected than the poverty-stricken families and as they did not get any significant attention for relief and life support. We have identified a community of 70 transgenders who are going to receive ration and medical support from us.”
Harshini says they have been able to execute this mission in less than a week. “This would not have happened without the constant support and foresight of the team, and most importantly everyone who helped us raise the funds.”
On April 10, they distributed rations to seven slums. “We provide for those who do not have provisions to make two or three meals a day for their families. It took us almost a day.” Sourcing provisions, she admits, is a challenge. “Provision stores wait from morning till night waiting for supplies.”
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