A second wave of COVID-19 is devastating India and has put severe stress on the nation’s healthcare system. The number of daily cases, as of early May, has surpassed 400,000 with an alarming increase in fatalities. The infection rates are the highest ever seen; nearly tripled from 2020’s peak. Thousands of people are dying daily, and poor infrastructure and areas of natural disaster exacerbate the crisis.
Together, we can help support healthcare workers and ultimately save lives in India. Please consider donating to the two organizations detailed below. These organization has been thoroughly vetted and verified by a tiger team of Citizant employees, in partnership with our friends at Pretek and AMDEX. The group has recommended these charity options specifically as together they meet India’s current critical need – medical supplies and food distribution. Both organizations also have widespread reach, working tirelessly across the varying regions of India.
If you choose to donate as a part of our corporate partner initiative, please email Christine Brown, Citizant Communications Specialist. Provide the name of the organization you donated to, the amount, and copy of the receipt. This will enable us to multiply the giving as Alba Alemán, Citizant CEO, has graciously agreed to meet the generosity of those that help in this campaign.
Sewa International is a Hindu faith-based, humanitarian nonprofit service organization registered under Internal Revenue Code 501 © (3). For 18 years, Sewa International has been serving the USA, India, and twenty other countries and has been actively helping the USA throughout the pandemic. This organization started a campaign called ‘Help India Defeat COVID-19’. The goal is to raise money for critically needed medical supplies and equipment like oxygen concentrators and ventilators. Sewa International has pledged to raise $10 million to support the current crisis in India. To donate to Sewa International, click here.
For 21 years, the Akshaya Patra Foundation has focused on providing fresh and nutritious meals to children every day. They leverage technology and state-of-the-art kitchens to prepare and distribute meals and essential grocery kits. Their operations have caught the attention from people all around the world. Since the first day of the nationwide lockdown and in coordination with state governments and district administration, Akshaya Patra has provided millions of meals to those most needy across the country. To donate to the Akshaya Patra Foundation, click here.
If you have ideas for additional ways we can help or if you would like to be part of the Support India Tiger Team, please contact Christine Brown or Pam Schoppert, Citizant VP of Human Experience and Quality. The goal is to form a collaboration of care and support that ripples and spread its way across colleagues, across partners, and across the world to those in need at this time.
Our thoughts and prayers are with our employees and friends who have been personally affected and/or who have loved ones impacted by the pandemic in India. We stand ready to help and support you and your family! Please read the heartfelt input from some of our colleagues and partners below:
More than anything else, I feel very sad that so many lives in India could have been saved, but were not, mainly due to a lack of medical resources and a lack of medical infrastructure due to systemic failures. I wish that those of us living in America and in the western world can create a joint venture with India, on an ongoing basis, to improve the systems in India to prevent such crisis in the future from being so impactful. – Niraj T., Citizant
It has been a very difficult and tough situation for the people in India. Living in the west, it worries me more about the family back home. There are several family members who are fighting for their lives on the ventilators. And then there are some who are unable to find the oxygen cylinders and succumbed to their death. The most heartbroken news I heard was from the crematoriums where family members could not perform a proper funeral due to a lack of the wood in some parts of India. This is the time we all got together and help India in its darkest hour. – Divya C., Citizant
Although the entire world has been coping with the covid pandemic, my heart goes out to the people of India who have been trying hard to hold it together. Our thoughts are with the people affected and everyone working around the clock to help those most in need. Few countries are capable of handling such a large scale medical emergency alone. India desperately needs our help. This is a time to rally, pledge support, and foster hope for a better tomorrow. No contribution is too small — each may make a huge difference in saving lives. Although there are no words to take away the pain of losing a loved one, your support to this cause demonstrates the best of our humanity. Please join us to become a ray hope for families going through difficult times. With deepest sincerity, I want to say thanks, in advance. – Dilip G., Pretek