Community Spotlight Covid19 Response Rotary Club

The Riviera Panjim chapter of the Rotary Club has been supporting the people of Goa for over 15 years with their dedication to service and when the lockdown happened due to COVID19 they were there once again for those most in need.

What is the mission of Rotary Club?

The main mission of Rotary as an organisation is to provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and peace through our fellowship of business, professional, and community leaders.

How many members does your chapter of Rotary Club have? And when was it founded?

The Rotary Club of Panaji Riviera was founded in 2004 and has 59 active members.

And can you tell a bit more about some of the other charitable projects you have helped facilitate in the past for Goa?

Our club has been very active in reaching out to the deserving sections of society in every possible way.

Some of our major projects are Supporting the National Association of the Blind with monthly rations, Providing Sanitary Pad vending machines to schools to aid the Girl Child,Support to the Hamara School and The Keshav Seva Sadhana Special School ,Conducting at least a 1000 cataract operations in association with the Bhagwati trust and reaching out to various other sections in need through our multiple year on projects.

We have recently embarked on a very special one of its kind project in the country involving the construction of a Home for defence Veterans at Socorro Goa entirely out of our funds.

What have you been doing to support Goa during this lockdown period?

The Rotary Club of Panaji Riviera was the first mover during this Covid crisis.We immediately mobilised funds through our club to the tune of almost Rs 6,00,000 and distributed rations to almost 5000 people during the crisis that followed the lockdown.
We have further distributed PPE kits to the doctors of Goa Medical College and are in the process of securing global grants to provide Ventilators to certain hospitals in Goa.

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

Securing supplies was the major challenge during this lockdown,however through our good offices and goodwill we were the first to secure supplies for distribution during this period.

What has been the most rewarding part of this experience?
The smiles on the faces of the individuals we reached has been the biggest rewarding experience of this relief operation

What is one lesson you would take away from all this?

Humanity is alive,we need to stand for each other irresepctive of caste creed sex or religion.

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

We have reached out to 5000 individuals

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

We would like to thank the Indian Red Cross for partnering with us in these relief operations

What is your plan moving forward? Do you see the type of support needed changing?

As things have now fallen in place our relief operations have now been stopped,however in the future we look forward to better Govt Support and guidelines during times of crisis.

If you could hope for one thing for Goa, in the outcome of all of this, what would it be?

To stand united ,amidst good times bad times rain or shine.The human spirit of togetherness is the biggest weapon against every evil.