JOIN USMovie stars in Bengaluru launch Covid relief efforts
Prominent names in show business have launched pandemic-relief initiatives.
Actor Sanjjanaa Galrani has been giving out food through her foundation in Bengaluru, mostly to domestic workers.
“Most of them are unemployed, and we are serving around 600 families,” she says. The foundation plans to keep it going till the lockdown ends. It has also handed out rations kits.
*Sanjjanaa Galrani Foundation
contact@sanjjanaafoundation.org
Actor Ragini Dwivedi’s foundation Genext Charitable Trust is also active.
It has been providing meals to the needy in north Bengaluru. “We also have volunteers facilitating ambulances and hospital beds. We run a 24x7 Covid helpline, and also hand out home isolation kits,” she says.
*Genext Charitable Trust
Call 97408 78667, email genextcharitabletrust@gmail.com
Oxygen concentrators
A campaign by Pranitha Foundation has raised about Rs 7 lakh for oxygen concentrators.
“We are looking to procure 50 and provide them to medical institutions in Bengaluru. Each concentrator costs about Rs 60,000,” actor Pranitha Subhash says.
She plans to collaborate with community kitchens and deliver food to those in
need. The foundation has already handed out PPE kits to frontline workers and journalists.
*Pranitha Foundation
Call 95389 44624, or email info@pranithafoundation.org
Free ambulance
Actor Arjun Gowda drives a free ambulance and cremates Covid-19 bodies for free.
He was shocked to hear how bereaved families were being fleeced at the crematoriums.
“How can the lower-middle-class and the poor afford so much now? They will already have spent a fortune on hospitals and treatment,” he says. Arjun has cremated 93 bodies since April.
He is now focused on helping children whose parents have tested positive.
“I am in touch with the government and have asked them how we can use children’s centres across the state to help children isolate,” he says.
*Call 99860 06669
Verified information
Actor-director M G Srinivas is creating posts, videos and live sessions with useful information about the pandemic.
“A lot of information online is fake. I am doing sessions with medical experts, doctors and officials. We started off with the importance of proning,” he says.
His next video will be with an official who will talk about adoption of Covid orphans.
“Many social media pages are posting about adopting children directly but that is illegal, and we want to explain the legal way of doing it,” he says.
The team also verifies helpline numbers put up online.
*Follow @lordmgsrinivas on Instagram