Bengaluru-based NGO Sparsha Trust has launched a new campaign on June 12 to help children who lost their parents to COVID-19. Under the project named ‘We Care for You’, the trust plans to support as many as 2,000 children belonging to low-income families across Karnataka who have lost a parent. The project will extend educational support, assistance, counselling and personality development to these children. This program will also support the affected family member(s) through interventions such as referral services to undergo various skill development training and job placements to improve their standard of living. Karnataka Minister for Women and Child Development, Shashikala Jolle was in attendance at the virtual event held for the launch of the programme.
The trust has constituted a committee of 20 members from different fields like education, medicine, social work etc, who will be responsible for the planning, the execution, the monitoring of the project and providing the required support for the same. Speaking at the virtual launch on Saturday, Ravi Shankar Denduluri, a core member of ‘We Care For You,’ said that the project will first be run on a pilot basis in three districts — Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural and Kolar.
Lakshmi Ravishankar, a therapist, who is one of the members of the group who will oversee the process of verification of the beneficiaries, said that the project will be helmed by the trust that has been working towards childcare since 2005. “During the pandemic, many children lost their parent(s) and were left homeless overnight. Recognizing the need of the hour, many individuals and organizations came together to launch this program which will be helmed under Sparsha Trust. Although the loss of parents cannot be ever replaced, through this project we want to help the children by providing them financial, educational assistance,” said Ravishankar.
‘We Care for You’ is a five-year project plan with clear goals to support and assist COVID-hit children and their families, read a statement by the trust. The trust said that it plans to provide educational support until the child attains 18 years of age, as well as counselling services. Further, the organization will support families in fulfilling their daily needs and provide them with job opportunities for long-term financial stability. The foundation will also provide shelter to the children through the Child Welfare Committee, the statement added.
When asked whether the beneficiaries have been identified, Lakshmi said that R Gopinath, the Managing Trustee of Sparsha Trust, and some other members associated with the trust will initially reach out to cases that they know of and then plan to reach out to more children in the future to further extend the project.