One of the most pressing and urgent challenges facing both the U.S. and India right now is hunger.
NEW DELHI: Leading Indian diaspora group in USA Indiaspora has launched a ChaloGive for COVID-19 online giving campaign to fight hunger and provide relief directly to vulnerable populations affected most by the coronavirus pandemic in the United States and India.
The giving campaign has raised USD $500,000 in contributions from Indiaspora’s leadership network this week. The campaign continues Friday as a grassroots initiative through Indiaspora’s online giving platform ChaloGive.org.
“We are facing an unprecedented situation due to Covid-19,” said Anand Rajaraman, a Silicon Valley-based serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist, and an Indiaspora Founders Circle member who, along with his wife Kaushie Adiseshan, is a lead donor for the campaign. “The drastic measures necessary to control this pandemic have created special challenges for vulnerable sections of society across the world, particularly in India and the US. Indiaspora has the opportunity to unite the diaspora to quickly and decisively help in the midst of this crisis.”
There has been an outpouring of support from the Indian diaspora during this pandemic. Several community-based organizations are providing much-needed relief, with CEOs, entrepreneurs, professionals from different industries, and the entire community rallying to make contributions to various non-profits.
One of the most pressing and urgent challenges facing both the U.S. and India right now is hunger, which is a deciding factor in Indiaspora’s new ChaloGive campaign.
In the U.S. more than 37 million people face food insecurity, with food banks struggling to meet a massive increase in need. In India, nearly 140 million migrant workers have been displaced and remain in dire need of food and other essentials.
“While all eyes are on frontline hospitals, millions in America and across the globe suffer silently from a growing and equally alarming epidemic of food insecurity as the COVID-19 crisis threatens to push already struggling families deeper into poverty,” said Sejal Hathi, an Indiaspora Board member and physician at Massachusetts General Hospital. “Now more than ever is the time for communities like Indiaspora’s to come together and rise to this call to feed people in need. I’m so proud to witness exactly this commitment to seva.”
ChaloGive for COVID-19 provides an opportunity for the Indian diaspora to make a collective impact toward helping marginalized communities who have been disproportionately affected by the ongoing crisis.
“This crisis has made it even harder for those who were already struggling to survive,” said Kris Gopalakrishnan, Chairman of Axilor Ventures and a founder of IT services company Infosys, who is also an Indiaspora Founders Circle member. “Given the increasingly global world we are living in, India and its diaspora are in a unique and powerful position to help each other.”
Comment by Aryan Aggarwal: The Indian diaspora in the United States have taken multiple initiatives to encourage and support humanitarian causes, as well as actively engaging in relief operations for the underprivileged. Indiaspora, an Indian diaspora in the United States has launched ChaloGive, a charitable campaign to provide relief directly to vulnerable populations in the United States and India, affected gravely by the pandemic. It has raised a total of $500,000. There has been an outpouring of support from the Indian diaspora during this pandemic. Several community-based organizations are providing much-needed relief, with CEOs, entrepreneurs, professionals from different industries, and the entire community rallying to make contributions to various non-profits.
Article compiled by: Aryan Aggarwal, Intern HRDI
