Five hundred families in Mumbai now have a food basket full of essentials and smiles on their faces thanks to fast work by India Federation and Team Vision volunteers.
After the Indian government announced a lockdown to slow the spread of coronavirus, the Federation was quick to start carrying out an assessment to identify the families in the greatest need.
To maximise its impact the Federation worked in collaboration with Team Vision, a group of Khojas involved in social welfare and community work through various Jamaats and charitable trusts in India.
Service with a smile
Together, this team of men and women distributed 500 food baskets in Mumbra and Dongri areas, both with a large Khoja population of daily wage earners.
And volunteers made a priority of service with a smile!
They also adhered to strict safety guidelines laid down by the Federation, including wearing face masks, maintaining a distance of 3 feet from each other, avoiding crowds of people, handing over food baskets to only one person per family against a signed voucher and government-issued ID card, and giving special preference to seniors.
Food for a month
Each food basket is enough to last a family of four to five people for a month and consisted of essentials like:
- Rice 10kg
- Flour 10kg
- Lentils 4 to 6kg
- Tea 500gms to 1 kg
- Sugar 2 kg
- Oil 2 litres
- Salt 1kg
Stay home and stay safe
Haji Abbas Bhojani, President of India Federation, said: “Alhamdulillah, so far there haven’t been any reports of deaths in the Indian Khoja community due to the virus. We pray that the pandemic ends soon and life gets back to normal especially since Maahe Ramadhan is just a few weeks away.
“Many thanks to the volunteers who have worked selflessly towards this cause. I request everyone to kindly stay home and stay safe and adhere to the norms laid down by the government with regards to social distancing.”