COVID-19 Army

COVID-19 ARMY

The Coalition Mask Network

    The Coalition Mask Network is a collaborative group of individuals and teams who are working to make and distribute as many masks as possible to those with the greatest need. We first focused on helping support hospitals and clinics. We have expanded our efforts to help community members, elders and staff in nursing homes and assisted living facilities, disabled people living in group home settings, people without homes, and survivors of domestic violence. There are many urgent needs, and sewists are working morning, noon, and night to keep up with requests.

    What is special about our network is that each sewist and each team may decide how they want to direct their efforts. When we work on a specific large request together, it is a great feeling to accomplish a shared goal. For example, on Thursday we set a goal of providing 500 masks to help Lynn Community Health Services. With help from several teams and many people, we reached 478 before the deadline. It is very exciting when we can all work together!

    Nagasree Chakka, Ben Soule, Amy Breiting, Linda Pagani, Doreen Mitchell, Betty Gau, Michelle Tran, and Martha Valencia are all central to this work. I can’t fit all the names of the volunteers, but whether someone made 1 or 100 masks – drove 1 trip to help with supplies, or shared one roll of elastic, each person’s contribution has made this a very successful team!

    Most of us became connected because we shared the view that masks were important, that everyone needed them, and that without providing sufficient help, many people would be further at risk – physically as well as mentally.

One example of an outstanding volunteer is Thilaka Ramesh. Thilaka works in healthcare – especially with seniors – and she also has children. Yet, she still has found time to not only sew more than 100 masks – she has involved friends and remains cheerful and encouraging – despite the fact that she is on the frontline with her work. This is one story out of the more than 200 people already involved. Even our local shoe store pitched in when no one could find elastic. They gave us all of the shoelaces they had! This is what we need, the “can do!” spirit. And Coalition Mask Network has the spirit!

    IAGB also spoke with Vineeta Kumar, who has been very actively involved in this initiative. Vineeta says it was instinctive to get involved in the greatest need of the hour. I had never used a sewing machine before and didn’t have one. Thankfully, one of my friends loaned me hers and I learned how to use it. She also told us about her son’s initiative to help people with digital devices like laptops and gaming devices. The idea came from their State Rep, to help people who are shut down at home without access to electronic devices and any way to stay engaged and entertained. You can get more details at www.giftagame.org.

Please contact Jessie at [email protected] if you would like help or donate.

–Jessie Steigerwald

COVID-19 ARMY

3D PPE supplies by Desais

We are building 3D printed face shields for frontline workers. These shields are to be used in conjunction with face masks. Protects the eyes and rest of the face. These face shields are in a great shortage and supplies are hard to come by. 

I have been a 3D printer buff for a long time, 3d printing small fixes and improvements around the house. So, when I saw on the internet, that 3d printer can help the frontline workers, I jumped on it. Looking at the shortage of PPE, it is very important for our frontline workers and their families to remain safe. So, it took me a few hours to figure out how I can help efficiently and quickly. I printed 20 of these shields over the weekend and asked on Facebook to donate them. Not surprising, several people and hospitals reached out requesting them. I had to increase production and go from 1 3d printer to 3 to meet the demands. So far, we have donated 300 shields and plenty more to make. We have donated to individual workers who work at nursing homes as well as hospitals like Mount Auburn, Lahey Burlington, Beth Israel, Melrose-Wakefield etc. We have also shipped the shields to Danbury Hospital in CT. 

I am doing this along with my wife Namita, mom-in-law Shilpa our 2 month old Avir (he helps by not being too fussy). While I produce the 3d printed shields, my wife and mom-in-law prepare the plastic sheets. After that is done, I disinfect everything and pack them with instructions sheets, ready to go. 

You can contribute to this project by donating to this GoFundMe campaign. 

gf.me/u/xuhxq7

–Nandish Desai

COVID-19 ARMY

Meals to Heal

    In response to the crisis we are facing our mission is to make the lives of affected families, patients, and their caregivers easier and less stressful by providing them with meals that relieve them of the significant time, energy and worry associated with ensuring proper nutrition for themselves and for their loved ones.

    It all started with group of friends discussing how to provide meals to those sick in the community and around the same time an acquaintance in the community falling sick with Covid-19 and needing meal help. We then reached out to close friends to get some help. As the word spread many more in our community joined in.

    Currently our group is helping 2 patients and 12 families in Burlington, Wilmington and Newton by providing meals. 

    Meals to heal is a group of over 60 men and women cooking and delivering meals to those need it. Given the restrictions we have in place due to Covid-19, from social distancing to scarcity of grocery items, it really requires tremendous group efforts to provide nutritious meals to those who need. Vaishali Gade and Raksha Soni are here just trying to facilitate and streamline the efforts. We welcome more volunteers to expand our reach and to support more families.

If you would like to help, please email us [email protected].

–Vaishali Gade

COVID-19 ARMY

CARE 4 JANITORS

    CARE 4 JANITORS – Food For Fabulous Friends’ is a small effort to show respect, gratitude & appreciation to the housekeeping and environmental services staff of the hospitals and nursing homes. These unsung heroes are working hard to maintain cleanliness and hygiene in the all hospitals. Our goal is to provide them with a hot meal and at the same time help local restaurants to sustain their businesses. To kick start this project, all five of us pooled in money to send meals to Melrose Wakefield hospital about a week ago not knowing how we would sustain ourselves to keep on going. We shared pictures on Facebook expressing our joy which caused a BIG ripple and things started growing organically. It’s been a week since we launched this cause and so far, we have delivered meals to 6 different hospitals and nursing home and fed close to 150

    Janitors/Environmental staff and we have meals schedule for upcoming weeks as well.

    These are some unprecedented times and while this pandemic is a shared experience, the impact is unique to all of us. Couple of us felt the urge of doing something for our community, especially the frontline folks who have been sacrificing so much to keep us all safe. And, with that burning desire 5 of us jumped on a Zoom call to brainstorm. We reached out to Dr Ankit Patel, who is a dear friend to get advice on how we can help our front-line heroes and that’s how Care 4 Janitors was born.

    We would like to give a special mention to Aarti Kapuria and the Operation Feed the Soul Campaign for being our inspiration.

    We really are counting our blessings and feeling humbled. The cause that we 5 felt so strong about resonated with many in the community and we feel so fortunate that our community is coming forward and supporting this cause in different ways-donations, helping with meal delivery, reaching out to hospitals/nursing homes, etc. We are witnessing the power of community in a true sense.

Our team consists of Jharna Madan, Neha Patel, Ruchika Yadav, Sneh Jaisingh & Twinkle Morbia.

Special mention: Dr Ankit Patel.

You can donate through Venmo, ID: Mission-Janitor

Please use these hashtags while doing Venmo – #venmoitforward #venmo #helpothers #payitforward

–Twinkle Morbia

COVID-19 ARMY

United India Association of New England

    United India Association of New England has set up UIANE COVID-19 Relief Fund. We are committed to help the community in fight against ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. UIANE pledges $5,000 in matching dollars towards donations made in this fund. 100% of the proceeds will be given to local charities to help feed families and support our front-line workers. This is our ongoing effort and we are making donations to local food pantries as well as serving boxed lunches to our health care workers and seniors.

We have also set up the home delivery of essential groceries for our seniors working in collaboration with Shivalaya Temple, since this age group is at higher risk from COVID-19.

Some of our team members are contributing to ‘Sew We Care’ Mask project and working to help distribute masks to front line workers and others in need.

Ongoing pandemic is a hard time for Boston community, as around the country and world. This is the time to help people in need. we are all in this together and together we can survive anything.

UIANE team has 16 team members. Aditi Soni, President of UIANE is leading the effort with all committed team members.

People can donate to UIANE COVID-19 Relief Fund on Facebook, online or by sending a check:

https://www.facebook.com/donate/221361852299677/?fundraiser_source=external_url

Visit https://unitedindia.net/covid-19-relief-fund-1 for further details. 

For any questions, please reach out to [email protected]

All donations to UIANE are exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

–Aditi Soni

COVID-19 ARMY

PPE Drive for India by Kachroos

    While talking to a few doctor friends in India we realized that while the hospitals in the cities were being helped, the help in the rural hospitals was not sufficient. While the government is doing everything it can, the scope of this pandemic is so big that private citizens have to step in to help. 

    My husband and I decided to supplement the rural hospitals, treating Covid-19 patients with Personal protection equipment – PPE kits.  

    Medical staffers, doctors, nurses are our frontline soldiers on this war with COVID-19. When the problem is so big, it feels overwhelming to even think of a solution. The fight to save the world, starts with one human at a time.

    We identified few hospitals in Maharashtra – Sangli District & Kalyan Dombivli region that are screening and treating COVID-19 patients and are in desperate need of the Personal Protection Equipment kits. There is an extreme shortage of these kits due to global demand.

    Then we identified a Manufacturer in Nashik, Maharashtra who agreed to manufacture and supply these kits as per WHO guidelines. The kits include N95-Face Mask, Hood Cap, Wraparound Gown with Shield, Goggles, Long Shoe Cover, Gloves and Waste Collection disposable bag.

    We started with a small order and decided that we will expand only when we feel that the order is completed successfully.

    As of now, my husband Heramb and I have raised the funds and we were generously helped by our family and friends. The hard part was identifying a reliable manufacturer and then finding a way to get it delivered midst the restrictions on the transportation. 

You can donate for this by contributing to Sunayana and Heramb’s gofundme:

gf.me/u/xu65k6

–Sunayana Kachroo

COVID-19 ARMY

SEWING MASK A MISSION

I am thankful to Shova Sharma, Uma Povathingal, Poonam Varshney, Meenakshi Rathore, Shweta Rawat, Swati Domadia, Priyambada Beura, Neha vig, Rita Mistry, Abhinav Jha for being part of this mission including many more people from Attleboro area. I provide all the fabric and rest of the team is helping with the sewing.

In just two weeks, we have covered healthcare facilities & supermarkets with 600 masks and are continuing to work towards this mission with groups such as Sewa, Bjane and Attleboro Desi. 

–Manisha Chowdhary

COVID-19 ARMY

WINDHAM MASK SQUAD

   ” I started this initiative solo and has now become a big effort with help from many families”

    We are making stitched fabric masks. The entire town has come together to make masks primarily for the homeless and children’s homes within NH and MA and low-income senior housing in MA. Even supporting medical professionals who are dealing directly with COVID patients, first responders, and also helping families with other illnesses who need protection from one another.

    Our masks have a slot so that additional protection can be inserted.

    We also started making mask extenders a couple of weeks ago – delivering these to first responders who are having to wear masks for upto 12 hours a day to reduce ear chafing. 

    I wanted to help in some way and not waste the time in lockdown so I learned that people were making masks and decided to give it a go. Before I knew it within 5 days, I had made 100 (with help of my daughter) and then talk to friends and family to join the cause.

    Many families have gotten involved! A lot of them are Indian families – all in Windham NH (two in Methuen, MA, one in Andover, MA, one in Braintree, MA and one in Dunstable, MA). Many, many other Windham families have come together selflessly too to help in many ways such as donating fabric, running to stores to get supplies, cutting fabrics, donations, and so much more! 

    Ladies came forward and said they knew how to stitch but didn’t have a machine. Others said they had a machine but didn’t know how to stitch or didn’t have the time. I connected them all and passed machines between them.

    All supplies are provided from my home and all masks are delivered to my home and then distributed onwards.

    There are 11 families involved in the stitching aspect. This is a community force – Moms/Dads and kids alike, are coming together to learn how to use a sewing machine – all driven by wanting to help those vulnerable that tend to be forgotten. It’s a huge assembly line throughout Windham! 

    Some of the women whose families are involved in this initiative are Dipti Sheth, Meenakshi Sharma, Radhika Patel, Nitu Patel, Darshna Patel, Jalpa Patel, Suma Aithal, Bharvi Patel, Hiral Patel, Dimple Patel, Lina Patel, Ami Patel, Purvi Patel, May Wan, Anu Patel and Meena Apte along with my own family. 

We have Windham high school kids (who need community service hours in order to graduate) who are running around Windham delivering and picking up supplies/completed masks and also helping to cut fabric. Windham High School allowed me to award community service hours to these wonderful kids! These high schoolers are also the ones doing the deliveries to the organizations we are supporting. We have made sure everything is managed in a safe way whilst maintaining social distancing. All packages are left outside the homes and deliveries to organizations are made outside the building. The Windham Mask Squad has made 2,000 masks with the help of the children of Windham, NH in just 5 weeks!  

The proudest thing about all this is that the kids are eagerly supporting their parent’s initiative! Every kid is selflessly dedicating their free “quarantine” time to help this cause! Each learning new skills in the process! I had calls and messages from so many parents wanting to help and also get their families involved. So many families are also very generously contributing with donations when required! 

We are Windham Proud and in this pandemic, we, the Windham Mask Squad will continue to “Mask Up” as many people as we can!

–Jagruti Patel

COVID-19 ARMY

Dharma Center of America

    We, at the Dharma Center of America, are committed to serve more than 2000 people by providing them with the basic necessities of life, that is, healthy and nutritious food. We are helping our community in the neighborhoods of Lowell, Burlington, Boston and Cambridge, MA. To support those affected by the COVID-19 crisis, we are raising funds from the larger Indian community with participation of several organizations (Chinmaya Mission of Boston,  Dwarkamai Shri Shirdi Sai Baba Temple North Billerica, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh USA, Hindi Manch, Indian Circle for Caring USA Inc, Maheshwari Mahasabha of North America, New England Chapter New England Marathi Mandal, Sewa International USA – Boston, Tamil Makkal Mandram , TAGB Boston and  The Art of Living).

    We have raised about $20,000 to-date and are looking forward for help from the community to serve as many people as possible over the next several months. 

    The guiding mission of Dharma Center of America, which was established in 2017, is “no one in my community should go hungry”. Based on the age-old Hindu ethos of “Nar Sewa Narayan Sewa”, we have committed ourselves to serve our community.

    Our team includes members who have had a long experience in running sewa/service programs in the community. Dharma Center, since its inception, has served women and children in need every week by cooking hot meals and delivering them to “On the Rise”. To-date we have served more than 2000 meals, with our volunteer base of 150 people.

    Our President is Dr. Suresh Jain, a well-known serial entrepreneur, and a philanthropist living the in Boston area.  Other executive team members are: Raghav Narayan, Ashwani Garg, Darshan Thakkar, Dinesh Hegde, Yogesh Rathi and Nilesh Agrawal.

More about all of them can be found at: http://dharmausa.org/

For the COVID-19 fundraiser, please donate at: 

https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/service-is-dharma

Dharma Center of America is a recognized 501(c)-3 organization. Tax ID #: 81-4543604

–Nilesh Agrawal

COVID-19 ARMY

Food drive for WCC

“Hunger is something no one should struggle with or be judged for” – Dawn

    We all are affected by this pandemic, some more than others in many different ways. So many of us are blessed that we can feed our family without any struggles. However, many are not as fortunate.  

    In the past, I have done monetary contributions to many charities and also volunteered for many different organizations.  In the last week of March, I read Shefali Desai’s FB post about donating sandwich bags for NH Soup Kitchen. Her post presented an opportunity to contribute beyond monetary contribution. For me giving is not just my duty, it’s a privilege. 

    After I decided to contribute, I reached out to a few of my friends and shared the thought. My friends also saw this as an opportunity and decided to support the noble cause. Collectively we made about 60 lunch bags and delivered them to Shefali Desai’s house.  I then posted on couple of Newton Facebook Groups about this food drive for Lawrence homeless shelter and NH Soup Kitchen. Over the last few weeks, friends and community members showed overwhelming interest and reached out to me on how they can contribute as well. Knowing the government guidelines of staying home as well as social distancing, I proposed to everyone that they can donate whatever they are comfortable with :  lunch bags (Sandwich, snack and juice) or just sandwiches, brown bags, water bottles, snacks, juice boxes, etc. and leave them on my porch. 

    We have over 50 donors and each donor and their family has helped me to delivered more than 800 lunch bags thus far for homeless shelter and under privileged people. I’m so thankful for their kindness and generosity during these difficult times. 

If anyone is interested in contributing to the cause (non monetary), please feel free to reach out to me  Cell: 781-608-6926 / Email: [email protected] .  

For monetary donations, please visit “www.wecarecharity.org/ways-to-give” or donate via Venmo  to Shefali Desai.

–Manisha Trivedi