Delhi-Based NGO Wishes and Blessings Expands Winter Relief Drive to West Bengal & Jharkhand

Wishes and Blessings, a Delhi-based NGO, has revamped its Winter Relief Drive due to the pandemic, and has also increased the project’s reach in order to provide relief to those who are suffering the most.

Keeping in mind those who have been most affected by the COVID-19 crisis, the NGO has expanded the project’s geographical base beyond Delhi & NCR in order to distribute winter relief in the form of blankets to the elderly abandoned in hamlets and villages around the city of Guskhara including Desai, Noorgram, Jorgore, Sibda, Nuta, Baritulla, Rasoi, Latertulla, Cetantulla, and Ausgram (West Bengal) as well as slums and bastis in Baradwari, Janta Basti, Gorgora and TuriyaBera (Jharkhand).

Phase I of the Winter Drives was launched in December 2014. Since then the NGO has been distributing winter relief to underprivileged children, women, men and elderly under their initiative 10Fridays~10Drives. In 2020-2021, however, keeping in mind the need to observe safety and health precautions, 10Fridays~10Drives has been revamped and is now called 5Weeks~5MegaDrives.

The Winter Relief drive is designed to reach out to homeless and underprivileged people, to ensure that at least some of them are well-protected from the harsh winter that takes place each year. The NGO launched Phase VII on December 14, 2020, and will be conducting 5 distribution drives until 15 January 2021. The NGO will be distributing caps, socks, gloves, blankets, and mufflers, reaching out to 500 beneficiaries in each drive.

Dr. Geetanjali Chopra, Founder and President, Wishes and Blessings said, “Winters present some of the worst circumstances that the underprivileged and homeless have to face, and the abandoned elderly face even further problems due to their particular requirements as aged people. I am grateful to our supporters who have helped us in this expansion to villages and rural areas of Jharkhand and West Bengal so that we may spread warmth to the neglected homeless elders in these areas, and make winter more comfortable for them.”

Barkha Hazarika, Outreach Officer, Wishes and Blessings, commented on her experience of distributing relief saying, “With the advent of winter, the situation on the ground has worsened. There are many people who have been moving around barefoot with no winter clothes or protective covering to keep the cold at bay. I feel blessed to be a part of this initiative to serve the poor to the best of my abilities, and help them keep warm during the drop in temperature.”

The distribution of the blankets took place from 8th-10th January 2021, provided to 200 beneficiaries in West Bengal, 100 beneficiaries in Jharkhand and 200 beneficiaries in Delhi.

Jaya, one of the beneficiaries, a resident of Noorgram, West Bengal, said, “My husband and I live in a basti which does not offer protection from the rain and the cold. The blankets we have received will help us keep warm, and will protect us from the cold wind and low temperatures. At least now we will not have to suffer this winter. I am very grateful to all the people who have helped us.”

Shankar, a beneficiary from Baradwari (Jharkhand), said, “I live all alone and have no one to care for me. I am too old to work and have no money to buy sweaters and warm clothing. With this blanket, I can at least sleep peacefully in the night, and my body will no longer be in pain.”

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