The group of students work in various verticals including food desk, help desk, info desk and their fund raising project. Started on 20 May, the volunteers of the Coimbatore Covid Aid have connected as many as 30 families who have been tested positive for the COVID-19 virus with people who cook and supply meals.
Coimbatore: A group of close to 30 college students based out of Coimbatore have come together in order to help people during the corona virus pandemic.
When the textile city saw a spike in the number of COVID-19 cases, there was a shortage of beds, oxygen and medicines on one hand and on the other hand there was a dearth in authentic information on how and from where to find a bed for a loved one, where from to purchase an oxygen cylinder for a patient in need of one, source a life saving medicine for a near or dear one or even help a family impacted by the COVID-19 virus with food to eat.
In the times of crises, in a bid to help the people of the city find what they need at the right time and from the right source, a group of 30-odd college going students joined hands and under the leadership of Tavissi Jain, formed what is called Coimbatore Covid Aid. “We are a student-run initiative based out of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, that seek to undertake Covid relief and aid operations in and around the district.” a source from the group shared.
The second wave of the covid pandemic left us all in astate of disarray, with people unable to access essential resources like oxygen, medication, critical care or worse, uninformed about where to start looking for them as and when the need came about. “Itimmediatelybecame evident that directing people towards verified resources was the need of the hour. So, Tavissi Jain - the driving force behind our group - took it upon herself to bridge this gap in information between resources andthe people in need.” the source added.
The group of students work in various verticals including food desk, help desk, info desk and their fund raising project. Started on 20 May, the volunteers of the Coimbatore Covid Aid have connected as many as 30 families who have been tested positive for the COVID-19 virus with people who cook and supply meals. The team of volunteers have lost count of the number of calls they have received and the number of individuals whom they have helped with authentic information about availability of beds, medicines, oxygen cylinders, centres doing the covid test and where vaccines are administered.
Having identified the need of oxygen at the government hospital, members of the Coimbatore Covid Aid group initiated a fund raising campaign on one of the online crowd-finding platforms to raise money to purchase oxygen cylinders for government hospitals. The goal of the virtual campaign is to raise rupees 10-lakhs. As of this writing, donors from all walks of life have contributed funds to the tune of close to 9-lakhs. About 30 oxygen cylinders, 25 flow meters and 25 regulators have been handed over at an event organised in Kangeyam in the presence of founder of Coimbatore Covid Aid.
As part of their future projects and with the intention to fund their on-going projects, Coimbatore Covid Aid will host a virtual music therapy session on 18 June, an online workshop on ‘Coping with Anxiety during the Pandemic’ on 19 June and on the following day an online session on yoga will be organised. Also in a bid to raise funds to support its ambitious projects, Coimbatore Covid Aid is working on hosting a mentorship workshop for prospective individuals. As part of the initiative, alumni and students from various business schools from across the globe will be invited to mentor participants. If all falls in place the workshop will be organised on the 26 and 27 June.