“Just as the COVID second wave struck us all, our father in law left us. It was a harrowing moment for all of us but it left me feeling bewildered and forlorn. One could say that I turned into the line of volunteering after that incident. Because we faced a lot while we were trying to find resources for our FIL, I could first-hand understand the issues on the ground.

I started a WhatsApp group with the sole aim of bringing together people who would help us in some way to battle the crisis at hand. Since it was a mixed bag of people from all corners, we started to actively participate in responding to requests that came our way mainly with medicines and also to help with information regarding bed availability.

As we started to pool our resources, I understood that we were able to help a few people in dire stress. Slowly the members expanded and we formed two other groups to accentuate this main goal of ours. With time, we divulged into blood donations drives and also job requests.

Since all of these are ongoing projects, I see that our groups have taken a shape on their own and it is functioning completely with our set of committed volunteers. The main message I learnt from this whole endeavour of ours is that it is much better to create a tangible change in this world if we ask ourselves the most pressing question – “How are we contributing to society?” rather than the “How is the society contributing to us?”. Guess the answer lies in the question itself.”