The Covid 19 pandemic has taken more from us than one can imagine. It has left bare the weakest members of our society, making them prone to hunger/exploitation than the virus itself. The lockdown revealed some of the worst scenarios that our fellow countrymen are facing. However, it also uncovered some of the most compassionate ways in which other fellow countrymen are working tirelessly to help the former.
Change With One Meal is one such community campaign that has been feeding thousands of migrant labourers in Noida and the ones in need since the lockdown began. Run by Kiran Verma, the campaign runs under Change With One foundation, aiming to reach out to the most vulnerable citizens and provide them with resources.
How it all started?
Kiran Verma tells Efforts for Good that the inspiration for the campaign started with his small initiative to provide rations for his own domestic help. Having come to the realization that the supplies in his helper’s house were receding, Kiran helped his domestic help. However, the neighbours of the helper flocked around Kiran thinking that he had rations to distribute. “I was surprised to see that so many people did not have resources for even a single meal. I came across women and children who had not eaten for three days straight. The hope in their eyes was inspiration enough for me to start Change With One Meal,” Kiran adds.
Kiran, who runs the organization Change For One and has been monumental in establishing, Simply Blood, the country’s first virtual blood donation application and website, started the campaign with a few of his friends and the initiative caught momentum.
Started by feeding around 100 people in the community of his domestic help, the story caught wind and the number of people grew. The initiative started on March 23 and for the next three days, Kiran used his own resources to feed the needy. A friend of Kiran, working in the food industry, arranged for a kitchen and the campaign turned into a full-fledged initiative working day in and out to provide meals.
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