Crowd funding helps Chennai rise once again

Netizens from across the world have come together and are organising crowd-funding campaigns to help Chennai rise up again after the flood. Here are three such initiatives that have won support from all over the world.

People could be living in any part of the world but they want citizens to share one meal with someone who is in need. “We hope this turns out to be a global campaign which is completely led by youngsters and that people from all over the world contribute.” So far, they have received support from the USA, England, China, Dubai, Switzerland and Paris. 

Haritha Raja and her mother, Manju Subramaniam, who live in Maryland, USA, have started a campaign through the well-known crowd funding website, www.gofundme.com, in an attempt to raise funds for the Chennai flood relief work. Those willing to contribute can log on to the website. “So far, the campaign has raised $5,000 and is already working with kids by putting together ‘back to school’ kits for them. Our team had visited a home for the HIV+ and found that though they were not directly affected, they had no access to medicines. We have been catering to the immediate needs of those affected by the floods through our volunteer team in Chennai, which is managed by Nandhitha Hariharan, locally,” says Sella Visalakshi, a volunteer from Singapore. 

“I had met representatives from ketto.org a few days before the flood for another cause. The floods hit Chennai a few days later and I was stuck in Korea when it happened,” says Rathi Jafer, the director of Inko Centre. However, she couldn’t just sit and watch the havoc the city was facing and decided to use the Internet to help out.

“We approached ketto.org to create a page to collect funds from India and Korea. There are many Koreans who have had fond memories of the city and were happy to help. We then associated with Srinivasan Services Trust (SST), the social arm of the TVS Motor Company, to use the funds for rehabilitation work in the city,” she says.