Rotaract Club of Trailblazers

Location: India (Hyderabad)

Wear a mask, wash your hands and stay indoors. A simple solution provided by some of the most intelligent minds in science for us to avoid infection and the problems the novel coronavirus brought into our lives abruptly. Except, it isn’t that simple.

With a population of 1.39 billion, 21.9% of which are below poverty line and 400 million more that are at a risk of falling deeper into poverty during the crisis, masks and washing hands seems to be a luxury they just cannot afford. Lack of sanitation facilities and overcrowded living conditions increases the risk of disease spread.

We recognized this need for resources and their distribution justly and came up with the food and mask drive which will be held on the event of International Youth Day on the 12th of August to help alleviate their plight. We plan to make and distribute a pair of reusable masks along with a food ration kit consisting of rice, wheat, pulses, soap and mosquito repellents.

By making our own masks, we aim at creating employment for the local tailors who saw losses due to the shutting down of businesses. We have placed an order of 400 reusable masks for the event and aim to generate more work for the members of our local communities through more projects of this kind in the future.

To create interest and raise funds for the cause we came up with an online contest where participants can register for a small amount and participate in a competition where they create useful and artistic projects from recyclable goods, the winner of which will be decided based on the number of likes they receive on their submissions posted on the club's official social media handles and a panel of judges. In this way we will promote recycling. The proceeds will aid the mask and food drives. There’s really no loser here. Each food and mask kit will be personalized with the names of the contestants as they play a key role in helping our efforts reach success.

Through the arts and crafts contest we were able to meet a lot of creative and enthusiastic people, interested in both art and philanthropy. We plan on encouraging and engaging with more such innovative and passionate minds and bringing people with similar interests together and creating projects aiming to build a community where we can all help each other grow.

This campaign will help control the spread of COVID-19 among a group that is at a very high risk of contracting the disease. It will serve as an opportunity to educate the street dwellers about the precautions to be taken to prevent infection. It will help tackle poverty and create an employment opportunity for the tailors involved in the production of masks and small scale businesses from which we acquire the ration and sanitation equipment. It will also serve as a platform for youngsters who wish to showcase their novel ideas of recycling and utility and will motivate many more to come forward and help protect our planet. It will give our team members and volunteers a chance to interact with different members of society- from the impoverished to the street hawkers and small business persons and help understand the key issues we face as a community. It will inspire us to come up with innovative and feasible ideas to tackle these issues and help build a more equitable society.

See more: https://www.instagram.com/rotaract.trailblazers/

For more information contact covid19@unmgcy.org