The Good Food Project, run by a group of professionals and entrepreneurs, has been feeding crematorium staff workers in Delhi. Their assistance comes while pyres in the national capital blaze round the clock, as bodies after bodies come in for cremation, amid a horrific second wave of COVID-19.
Initiated by two individuals Nandini Ghosh and Shray Gupta, the team now has volunteers from across the globe, as per a report by The Hindu.
As per a report by The Times of India, the group has informed that they are assisting 21 cremation grounds and graveyards currently and that they have reached out to approximately 600 people with aid over the past one week.
Further, as per TOI, The Good Food Project has now initiated a fundraiser so that they can extend assistance to workers at Delhi’s cremation grounds with other COVID-essentials too.
Shray Gupta informed TOI:
“We were initially providing only food to people. We later realised that ambulance drivers and cremation workers were also struggling to deal with the crisis. So, we decided to help them in every possible manner.”
Another group member told TOI:
“Many of them complain that they do not get paid well, and they they do not get the items/facilities required for the job.”
As per their Twitter account, the Good Food Project is also running a petition to help the crematorium workers get recognition as frontline workers, and are seeking vaccination for them at the earliest, considering the workers’ prolonged exposure to bodies of COVID-19 positive individuals.
How It All Started
Speaking with The Hindu on how their project began, Nandini Ghosh said:
“Ever since the second wave struck, a lot of us have been feeling helpless. Last Sunday, the feeling grew stronger, and I called Shray, who has been helping people with resources already, asking him if we could do something. Then, we decided to help the crematoriums staff workers with food.”
Gupta reportedly contributed Rs 10,000, and they bought 100 dinner packets.
Gupta also informed The Hindu that a crematorium office staff person told them that they provide all meals to the workers. “But when we asked the workers, they said they are managing themselves.”
Subsequently, The Good Food Project became a more ambitious endeavour, and they decided to set up a crowdfunding campaign, which has since been steadily growing.
Further, Gupta shared that most of the people who agreed to volunteer were those who had faced a personal loss due to COVID-19.
As per The Hindu, the group delivered food packets to 200 crematorium staff workers on Wednesday, 400 each on Thursday and Friday and planned for 800 on Saturday. The team members have also informed that they wear PPE kits and take all the precautions before hitting the ground.
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