06/16/2021
India is experiencing a devastating wave of COVID-19 which is an impact that will reverberate around the world. As a result, a few of our very own initiated India Calling: VSF’s COVID-19 Relief Fund rooted in our Vasavi Seva Foundation goals: Unite, Serve, and Celebrate. Despite originating from a simple idea, this has been VSF’s largest effort to garner local support to help address what we heard on the news and from our kith and kin. It’s a tragedy to see an already fragile and fragmented healthcare system buckling. Hospitals all over India have been overwhelmed and have had to turn away scores of patients due to a lack of beds and oxygen concentrators hence an acute need and demand for medical supplies.
It was time to act. Governed by sentiment of “Let your heart rule your emotions, but let your mind rule your actions,” the following stewards of VSF are to be commended for their commitment to the cause:
-Manikanta Boggarapu
-Sunil Hebbur
-Shruti Esturi
-Srinivas Katta
-Vamshi Bhoopalam
-Soumya Sundeep
-Kailashnath Dornadula
-Nagesh Kanumury
-Chakrapani Innamuri
-Manickam Dhamodaran
-Rashmi Setty
-Shalini Parigi
-Vish Jakka
-Vish Raja
-Ram Bhoopalam
-Sreedhar Gudala
-Madhu Grandhi
-Anitha Kamasetty
-Prasanth Kedarisetti
-Ranjith Kagathi
-Mallikarjuna Namburi
-Balaji Raj
-Roopa Sunku
They humbly initiated a drive to raise $300K plus from about 1000 plus donors including young children to corporate sponsors to make a difference to the homeland we hail from. Despite having financial support, there was an immense learning curve in understanding the community's needs and where our efforts were going to be most effective. With the expertise of several medical professionals and agencies, VSF was able to identify a need for 500 plus oxygen concentrators. Additionally, we had to account for procurement, distribution, shipping, and recycling of our concentrators. Not to mention the challenge of receiving medical clearance to bring our efforts to fruition. It was an incredible undertaking for these tech savvy Bay Area locals considering medicine being uncharted territory for them. It took tenacity and grit but we are proud to have served Indians in about 40 plus cities and rural areas in Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. https://photos.app.goo.gl/kS8d8QXE1J6T2jS49
Thanks to the many global volunteers for all the help on ground zero facilitating the optimal usage of the much needed concentrators.
-Mahesh Makam
-Linda Cai
-K Venkatesh
-K Murugan
-Murali Kasipathy
-Srinivas Narayanam
-Anish Pydah
-Dr Shivshankar
Our team pioneered assistance to India in their time of need, traversing political, fiscal, medical, shipping, distribution, and partner engagement obstacles presented before us. As the first among many making such efforts, we were tasked with navigating the limited options of using FEDEX and Air India Cargo from Chicago or San Francisco, China, and Singapore assuring that our equipment was compatible with India voltage. Hats off to the heroes who never gave up and persevered until the mission was served with every avenue unearthed.
Appreciation goes out to the various organizations in India that facilitated the distribution and partnered with us on the channeling the need of the hour. Just to name a few key partners:
-Vasavi Associations
-Arya Vysya Sangham
-Awake Commit Transform India
-Government Hospitals
-Lions Club
-Rotary Clubs
As an unknown author says,“Seva is something that you do for others, for society without expecting anything in return, not even a thanks. If you are doing seva you will have no dearth. Whatever is needed will come to you when you need it.” This saying rings true of our India Calling fundraiser as we made a difference to many lives, touched many hearts, and felt a sense of humility fighting the catastrophic pandemic of a century.
Here are a few memories to reminisce on: https://www.vsfbayarea.org/donation?lightbox=dataItem-kp5n8tq78
VSF thanks all the donors for their generous donation that enabled us to serve India during these tough times of second wave of COViD-19.
