Community Spotlight Covid19 Response

Give for Goa came together as a response from a group of friends who felt compelled to do something to support the marginalised communities being affected by the lockdown. They faced many challenges in getting the relief kitchen off the ground, but continued on overcoming all the delays to make sure they could support the community. These young friends have been surprising their families getting up early every day so they can prep, cook, and deliver hundreds of meals. They have been delivering meals for the last 20 days straight, fundraising from friends and family to provide over 12,000 meals.

What made you want to stand up and volunteer your time during this lockdown?

The series of events which took place leading up to this lockdown didn’t give anyone time or any opportunity to plan/prepare for what was coming. The food crisis, the financial crisis and the chaos. We are aware that Goa has never faced a food crisis before and there is no mechanism in place to tackle it. We thought we’d start doing our bit to help as much as we can and offer immediate relief to those that are in need and are accessible to us.

Can you tell us a little about yourself and what you normally do for work when you aren’t doing this?

The give for goa core team is made up of

Shervin D’Silva – restauranter and bussiness owner(spic and span goa)

Alton DeSouza – restauranter (There Hospitality )

Rolino DeSouza- Sailor

Saul Sanches- business owner art box Global

Chrys D’Souza. – business owner Souzco Upvc

And many other gracious volunteers

How did you go about setting up Give for Goa? And can you explain a bit about what you have been doing to support marginalized communities during this lockdown period?

Give for Goa was set up out based on overnight conversation amongst a group of like minded friends who all accepted the reality they were in and were willing to do their bit. We decided to run the kitchen of the restaurant owned by Alton DeSouza & Sherwin Dsilva, cook a basic nutritional meal and give it to whoever is hungry at a time like this. no questions asked.

A lot of small communities (migrant Labour and religious minorities) are being faced with multiple issues amidst this chaos. Some issues are truly because of the circumstances we are faced with due to the lockdown and while others are just baseless issues created by a society that even at a time like this believes all human life isn’t equal.

We’ve been reaching out to these communities. Making sure they have a square meal and then putting them on the concerned organization/government department based on their location and needs so that they can get more help to sustain themselves through this crisis.

What are some of the difficulties you have faced while trying to do this work?

Firstly since we had made a conscious decision to not break the law in the name of doing good. We could not start till we received permissions from the collector to start operations. This process took us 5 days. At a time like this it’s extremely disheartening to see that it takes 5 working days to give a go ahead to a relief kitchen that is being set up to prepare SOS food for those who are hungry. That was the first and largest difficulty we faced.

In the first few days supply of rations and raw ingredients was tough but that has stabalised and procurement and operations are also pretty stable now.

What has been the most rewarding part of this experience?

Knowing that we’ve spent our time/energy and resources making someone’s circumstances a little better in a time like this and giving them the feeling of Hope that someone cares for them and they have not been left alone, gives us a ton of indescribable joy.

What do you need support with? / How can people help you continue this work?

People can help by giving us information on individuals and families that need food or have run out of rations so that we can reach out and help them.

What is something you would want people at home to know about the work you are doing, or the communities you are working with?

We would like people at home to know that these are the people that are doing all the really hard jobs for the state goa and like it or not our state of Goa as we know it cannot function without these people waking up and going to work everyday. So we need to keep in mind that at this juncture the only thing that matters is that all human life is equal and everyone must be taken care of to the best of our ability. We need everyone’s support to help us gather information and to do their tiny bit from the comfort and safety of their homes.

Make that phone call to the helpline.

Inquire about the well being of your neighbours.

Stay up to date.

Make sure the underprivileged and the uneducated are not being given false information. We must all stay calm and help the less fortunate to appreciate the gravity of the situation. This will ensure to reduce panic and makes things a lot better and comfortable for a lot more people.

How many volunteers are you working with to do this work?

We have a group of around 15 volunteers who are helping identify, verify, cook for and feed people in need.

How many migrants/day laborers have you feed/supported thus far?

We have provided over 10,000 meals to migrants/ daily wage workers / old age homes and other institutions in need.

Anyone you would like to give a shout out to or thanks in particular for helping your organization?

We’d like to give a shoutout to our hard working Volunteers who have given their time and put in a lot of effort daily over the past 2 weeks without a break and who are always working hard with a smile on their face. Our Volunteers are as follows along with their Roles

Amey Dessai- On ground volunteer (identification & deliveries)

Jerlynn Fernandes- On ground volunteer (identification & deliveries)

Hosanna Da Silva- Identification, Co-ordination and Support

Alisha Rodrigues- Social Media

Tamara Correia- Social Media

Denise Thompson- Social Media