In a report by The Indian Express, the list of professionals falling under frontline COVID-19 workers include “Security staff at buildings both private and Govt, police personnel manning checkpoints/ roads (In certain industrial areas/ business establishments), airport staff, Air India team involved in the evacuation, migrant labourers returning to States, bus driver and associated staff, Certain category of shops like – pharmacist, vegetable vendors, banks, etc.”, besides paramedics and healthcare workers.
“Since the beginning of lockdown, we have all been reading heartbreaking news about fellow Indians stranded because of restrictions on interstate travel, or healthcare professionals not being able to hold their babies because of the risk of infection - it’s been overwhelming, to say the least.”, said Tara Luthra and Aanshi Gupta, who have started an initiative to bring together a dedicated group of empathetic and passionate changemakers with an objective to express gratitude to workers who had been at the frontlines of COVID-19 welfare in India.
“We were in awe of how communities stepped up to support each other - be it in the form of fundraisers, food collection drives, and many other wonderful initiatives. I think as students, it’s often confusing to know how you can help a situation. I know that may sound naive or privileged, but in a time where we could help the most by just staying home, it was confusing to determine what we could do to be more productive members of our community. When we chanced upon The Crisis Project’s (UK) initiative called ‘Letters to the NHS’ - it almost felt like a sign. We finally found a way students, such as ourselves, could contribute.’
If you have a couple of minutes and a drive to do something for our courageous frontline workers, join us in writing a letter to one of them and make their day!
Volunteers can sign up to write a letter to a selfless hero or nominate a person who they think has shown exemplary service during the pandemic.
You can sign up to volunteer here.
You can nominate a frontline worker to receive a letter here.
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