Mayank, a 29-year-old resident of Bengaluru, succumbed to COVID-19 a fortnight ago. The tragic event prompted his sibling Amit* to start a foundation in his memory that raises funds for low-income families in the city to meet COVID-19 treatment expenses. The Mayank Agarwal Memorial Fund was set up by the youth on May 17. “Mayank would lend help to the needy and that prompted us to look for organisations working for the cause. Eventually, the memorial fund was set up,” Amit explained.

Through the Mayank Agarwal Memorial Fund and the help of over 1,500 donors, Amit and a team of volunteers raised Rs 18.2 lakh within 15 hours. The team plans to help 50 families and raise Rs 2.5 lakh for each family. Thus far, they have helped almost 35 people from low-income families.

Talking about the foundation's modus operandi, Amit said, “The team runs a background check on the beneficiary, including financial background and hospital bills before proceeding. We also ask for the doctor’s letter and after a final verification, a fundraiser is started on the Ketto website. The donations are directly transferred to the family since we do not have a fund account yet.”

Along with raising money for low-income families, the team is involved in another project called Project Seva (Project Service), a collaborative effort with Shreyas Reddy, a Bengaluru-based Economics student who has been feeding homeless people across the city. The team’s 25 volunteers hand out food packets to 1,500 homeless persons in Bengaluru every day.

Using the Mayank Agarwal Memorial Fund, they aim to raise Rs 1 crore by the end of the week. Upon being quizzed as to whether they plan to continue with the fund-raising, Amit said that they are determined to help more families.

One can contact them through their Instagram page: mayankforblore here.