Last year, when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak and Anvi Mittal was unable to visit her friend, she ended up angry and irritated. That day, she switched on the television and saw these gut-wrenching images of migrant labourers dying from hunger while desperately trying to return home.
Anvi decided right then to reach out to such migrant labourers and help them with ration kits to ease their hunger. Anvi, who recently graduated from Greenwood High School in Bengaluru, says, "I reached out to my school's principal. And they agreed to cooperate with me. We were able to raise over 1.5 lakh rupees in a few days and got over 3,000 kgs of ration kits. That's how Ration Square came into existence in May 2020."
All these ration kits were distributed close to Anvi's residence where many families of migrant labourers stayed. "My friends from other schools observed what I was doing and they liked it. Sso they started over 16 chapters of Ration Square in their schools. Currently, we have over thirty members in our team. Owing to the larger numbers, we raised over 5 lakh rupees and distributed ration kits worth 10,000 kgs," says Anvi who will be moving to the USA for her higher studies.
This year, the members of Ration Square have been working to raise funds and help people in the treatment of COVID-19. Anvi explains, "We tied up with a non-profit organisation called Mercy Mission. We spent these funds on oxygen cylinders, ambulance services and treatment of COVID patients in one of the private hospitals in Bengaluru."
Anvi has been happy about the responses their Ration Square team has been receiving from parents, friends and other family members. When asked if the team of Ration Square will continue working after she moves to USA, she says, "I will continue to work for the team until I am in India. Later, I will handover my work to my juniors from school."
