In a moment one single line offer became a movement, a human chain which touched the lives of millions of caring loving hearts-heads-hands together; challenging and defying all odds of the pandemic. For every story of horror and trauma; of selfishness & cruelty; of power, greed & suffering; there were also endless inspirational faces and stories of unconditional love & selflessness; of gratitude,s
haring & caring.. Of tears of gratitude and grief mingled together.. Of hope silver lining every despair. Historical Performance:
The parent organisation of GURU ARJUN SAMAJIK PRATISHTAN,was established with the dream and vision to do volunteering services for society way back in 1998 by its founder, Sardar Harjit Singh Wadhwa, when he was completing his post graduation. Over the years the organisation and organiser, both evolved with a large network of volunteers by doing random acts of kindness and charity with the underprivileged in the society, especially children. To inspire the children to honour our age old heritage & traditions & simultaneously keep the dignity of the stakeholders intact by bridging this gap of being givers & receivers, these small projects undertaken were celebrated on different festivals of India. It created a bond of celebrating together instead of feeling charity being doled out. Among a majority of undocumented such celebrations, a regular celebration is organised every year from last 15 years for 1300 to 1500 participants in orphanages. It organises several cultural activities, competitions for the children signifying a joyful time of creativity, dance dramas, new clothes, gift, food and above all hope and love to celebrate Deepavali, an Indian festival symbolic of the Light of truth and goodness in our heritage. ALLEVIATING HUMAN SUFFERING OF HUNGER :
The covid-19 pandemic hit India like the rest of the world in March 2020. Awareness and implication of the dreaded disease and the imperative sudden lockdown that needed to be implemented affected the masses in an unprecedented way. The biggest challenge for a nation of 1.35 crore population was clamping a complete lockdown. Although all citizens obeyed and extended complete support in adhering to the rules of the lockdown, it created many basic challenges for everyone regardless of their status, class, creed, community; primarily being "FOOD" There was a massive need to serve this basic need not just for human beings but animals too. One has to give credit to the founder and leader of this team, Sardar Harjitsingh to act upon his flash of intuition and inspiration on the very first day of lockdown. He took the initiative of creating a WhatsApp group with his school alumni and seniors from the society. GGLS simply circulated a SMS & WhatsApp message "IF anyone is HUNGRY please call or SMS 942 316 2727." In a moment this one single line offer became a movement .. a human chain which touched the lives of millions of receivers and givers of caring loving hearts-heads- hands together; challenging and defying all odds of the pandemic. The first day itself calls for food came from 350 people! It was quickly organised from personal homes of the volunteers and delivered. Their experience inspired them so much that there has been no looking back since then. They only gained more experience to continue to operate as a committed team even today. EFFECTIVE PARTNERSHIPS IN THE PROJECT:
The overwhelming increase in demand made it imperative to have a systematic approach & additional partners to prepare, collect and distribute food. PARTNERS WITH SOCIETY:
A clarion call to anyone and everyone who wished to contribute support and join this food chain brought forth individuals and families from all possible walks of life with no socio-economic or political boundaries whatsoever. This unique chain of food literally being collected from home to home and being delivered to the needy home to home, gave the project its unique Identity & name Ghar Ghar langar Seva *- GGLS* ( *Ghar=Home, Ghar*=To Home, *Langar = Sikh Community Kitchen, *Sewa=Volunteer Service)
Second day, the number rose from 350 to 1350, 3rd day onwards it was 3500 plus distribution. So instead of operating from varied homes, a Centralised Collection & Distribution Centre was temporarily created at the Gas-Station of a volunteer. PARTNERS WITH POLICE SERVICES:
> As the number increased multi fold, there was a need for in-house cooking of food. The entire local police administration was a strong pillar throughout the program. From giving ID cards, permission to volunteers to collect deliver this packet safely during lockdown, they played a major role in processing and identifying genuine needs of the communities even in the remotest hamlets of the district. Eventually they offered their official premises for in-house preparation of food from 29 March 2020 up to January 2021. PARTNERS WITH CORPORATES, ORGANISATIONS & ADMINISTRATION, with PHILANTHROPIC INDIVIDUALS:
Several local social organisation like the Lions Clubs, Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (CSR) Ahmednagar Municipal Corporation, Jain Pitaliya Hostel, Hotel Natraj, Firodia Foundation, have played a major role in this project. SYSTEMATIC APPROACH APPLIED:
With more of the unknown factors than the known ones at play on a daily basis, a very systematic approach followed with strong team dynamics made this project work & look so deceptively effortless, smooth.
> 1.TWO GOOGLE FORMS CREATED: One for those who needed food and one for those who wish to donate food. Form was widely circulated on social media. It had details of name, address and phone number respectively. Details could be accessed by all volunteers distributing and collecting food.
> Those were not technologically savvy could also merely call the helpline number created.
> 2. DIVISION OF AREA OF OPERATION: Ahmednagar city with 5 lakh population was divided into 8 parts. Each route assigned to one rider and pillion with food packets for registered needy people plus few hundred extra packets always kept handy for impromptu service of those in need along the way.
3. FORMATION OF TEAMS: Teams were created from a core group of 65 volunteers.
> Distribution team 24 persons
> Collection 8 person
> Cooking 8 person
> Back office and Google sheet management 3 person
> Admin, accounts, procurement of material 2 person
> Overall management, liasioning with government and police department and press media 3 people. IN ADDITION:
> The volunteers and scores of people from society at large, the Police department, Government administration who kept joining the project is an Unseen Unaccounted Lot which truly only the DIVINE INSPIRED and came forward in unknown and known ways in this Flow of Service.
> 4. SOCIAL DISTANCING: Packets were kept at the door steps of the address given. In covid wards and hospitals food for patients requested by family/patients was delivered to the watchman with details of the patient. All rules of social distancing were strictly followed which miraculously kept the entire team healthy & unaffected till date.
> 5. GROUP DYNAMICS WITH OTHER VOLUNTEER GROUPS: Information was shared with other smaller volunteer groups serving food about people with genuine needs and areas covered to avoid overlapping of distribution in same areas and homes.
> 6. BULK DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD IN HANDS OF ANY ONE PERSON) GROUP WAS STRICTLY AVOIDED TO AVOID ANY SELFISH INTEREST OF ANYONE. ONLY DOOR TO DOOR DISTRIBUTION WAS DONE FOLLOWING SOCIAL DISTANCING.
> 7. TRANSPARENCY OF LOGISTICS: Daily updates in detail were given about the various donors and where and how resources were used created strengthened the trust and integrity of all the locals towards the genuineness of the project & the team.
>
> INNOVATION IN PROGRAMME :
> The uncertainties of the entire pandemic would create new and tough challenges on a daily basis. Only quick thinking, improvisation and innovation has kept the project live buzzing and together till date from 22nd March 2020. The data and records given below about the gamut of needs that arose & were attended to speak aloud about the levels of innovation applied at every step of project.
> DATA & RECORD OF ACHIEVEMENT:
> 1) 531500 Cooked food Packets distributed & continuing even today.( from 23/03/2020 till date)
> 2)2550 Ration Kits for Family of Four which could last at least for a month.
> 3) 11000 Plus Migrant workers served with Food & water.- the exodus in panic of the uneducated migrant labourers scattered all over India towards their homes, was a colossal challenge to handle & provide support to emotionally as well as their basic needs. GGLS* immediately contributed additional efforts there too.
> 4) 550 Migrant workers were transported and transferred to their home town: arranging for reliable modes of transport, liaising with the truckers on emergency duty, paying for some of the workers, etc was also done as & when need arose.
> 5) GGLS Model was implemented in various places in Corona Pandemic
> 6) Two free of cost Covid Care Centres With Name of Guru Arjan Devji were improvised & continue to operate free of cost. 1800 Plus Patients have recovered. One of the centres is exclusively for ladies & their children. Complete with medical facilities given by the Government for the a symptomatic patients, they arranged for additional services like yoga classes,art & craft to keep the patients mentally & emotionally occupied & healthy.
> 7) Herbal Immunity Drinks for People: The Ayurveda Herbal Drinks were a strong immunity booster served to almost 4000 citizens daily morning for 7 plus months.
> 8) Free Oxygen Langar Sewa: There were highly volatile times in the second wave of the pandemic where there was shortage / lag in making oxygen supported medical services to patients. In those emergency times the group pitched in with 12 Oxygen Concentrators, 25 Oxygen Cylinders and 1200 Portable Oxygen Cans; saving lives of endless patients.
> 9) Food for Street Animals, Cattle continues till date in times of emergency.
> 10) Blood Donation Camp: The was a phase when Requirements for blood, plasma, etc had increased. With negligible number of donors stepping out of their homes, GGLS organised successful blood camp during pandemic first wave.
> 11) RECENT FLOODS IN PARTS OF MAHARASHTRA: GGLS reached out to the remote villages affected in flood affected district in Sangli by Giving Ration Kits.
> 12) Food For Animals and cattle feed in flood affected villages of Shevgaon Taluka.
13) SUPPORTING NEEDY CHILDREN IN ONLINE EDUCATION: WIth a vast majority of students totally alienated from online education due to lack of smart devices to study from home, GGLS teams started a collection drive of collecting used smart phones, tabs, computers from donors & distributing them to those in need.
> LASTING IMPACT OF THE GGLS PROJECT:
> ON THE TEAM:
> The entire team stand strong in the faith that this Herculean service is a classic example of the "impossible made possible" at every stage Only & Only with a Divine will & Intervention. Having set out in that pure calling, their lives have been deeply enriched with their experiences. They have experienced the miracle of each one remaining Covid negative throughout as they served when no one dared to step out of their homes. A huge level of evolvement of life skills as they dealt with life's different challenges & death. Their leadership, team bonding & management is a lesson in learning. ON THE SOCIETY AT LARGE:
** If the poorest of the poor, the daily wage earners who were served food daily when they were stranded & out of work, choose to come back and handover their humble daily wages to sponsor meals for others by GGLS the moment they went back to work; that is the biggest and most lasting impact of this program.
> ** What started as a Will To Serve by a group of school friends and their families together turned into an infectious fervor greater than the coronavirus, one that brought together all communities with no bars to join the efforts of GGLS to unconditionally serve; that is a lasting impact of HUMANITY WINNING THIS BIO WARFARE.
> ** SOUL WARMING examples of sharing & giving are plenty. The inspiring ones are of those loving mothers who daily cooked simple nutritious food parcels from their homes in the first week, when they did not know when & if shops will reopen for them to replenish their own limited stocks of rations, of those mothers who anonymously chose to bundle a few notes of money for the Unknown receivers in need of it...
> There was a time when the GGLS volunteers came across some villagers stranded because the bullock cart they were travelling in had stalled. The metal shoes on the hooves of the bullocks had broken & the hooves were bleeding. The volunteers with the help of their Police co- partners could get the blacksmith in the police to replace the shoes.Seeing the devotion of volunteers even he refused to take the money for his work!!!! This although he himself was poor and had no work since last 70 days. Such were some of the Lighthouses of the spirits of gratitude, sharing & caring, of lessons in GIVING.
> **Accolades and contributions came for this project from local, National and international sources, media & individuals. Member of Parliament Mr. Shrinivas Patil, Health Minister, Mr Rajesh Tope, have lauded the work of GGLS.
> ** GGLS was also a part of international news. It's work was featured by Brit Asia News, UK.
> ** They received Oxygen concentrators as donation from MP of New Zealand and also a Sikh Gurdwara in Fremont USA.
> Contributions came from all parts of the countries & the world which speak of the trust in the integrity of the GGLS to use their resources in best possible manner.
> This is a humble attempt to document and present a project which continues to flow in the society of Ahmednagar area. Even as I write the nomination letter the third wave is expected to hit Indian shores any moment. The team of GGLS are all braced and ready to do the best. A tribute to the Spirit of Humanity and world as ONE FAMILY .. Vasudaiva Kutumbakam.
