A 11-year-old girl from Hyderabad has collected ₹6.2 lakh to buy food for the less fortunate during the lockdown.
Moved by a video of a hungry person breaking down on being given food, Ms. Ridhi dug into her savings and also put across a request to relatives and friends seeking donations. She drew up a plan to supply kits worth ₹650 containing six items — 5 kg rice, 1 kg salt, 1 litre cooking oil and two soap bars.
“I requested my near and dear ones because I wanted them to know that many people are struggling for food,” said Ms. Ridhi, a grade 6 student of an international school here. The project was titled ‘Care-Ona’.
With support of family and friends, she managed to collect ₹1.2 lakh to pack 200 kits. Her mother V. Shilpa Rao and father N. Ram Kumar donated the food kits in Serlingampally locality with the help of the Cyberabad police. “When we came back, she was curious to know how it went. When we said there were a lot of people who did not get the kits, she asked why can’t we raise more money,” said Ms. Rao.
That’s when they learnt about crowdfunding website, Milaap, and floated an online appeal eight days ago to help daily wage workers who have lost their jobs during the lockdown and do not have money to buy essentials.
Responding to her appeal, donations worth ₹6.2 lakh were raised. The money will be used to buy more food supplies for the less privileged. Volunteers from an NGO are helping pack the kits.