In Vrindavan, thousands of elderly widow mothers face the harsh reality of abandonment and suffering. With no one to turn to, many are left begging on the streets, exposed to heat, cold and rain,Donate so that Maitri can provide shelter, food, clothes and medical support to abandoned elderly mothers now. Give generously.Winnie Singh has witnessed many cases of widow mothers being abandoned on the streets of Vrindavan, one of the holiest places in India. “Children leave their mothers as soon as they become widows. The children start feeling the burden. This has become a practice in today's society that money comes first and everything else later,” says Winnie whose Maitri India, rescues widowed mothers from the streets of Vrindavan.Many widowed elderly mothers often end up living a lonely life and begging to survive on the streets. And Maitri aspires to take care of every widow in need of help, but because of lack of funds, Winnie and Maitri are in a position to do it."Elderly widows don't have shelter. They sleep in cowsheds over sacks. They don't have a blanket. Nights are really difficult for them," shares Winnie Singh. <img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/1abfb906-563b-4747-85b8-8af2071a2856.jpg" />Maitri aims to:<ul><li>Provide shelter and nutritious meals leading to improved health and wellbeing</li><li>Make physical and mental health services accessible</li><li>Offer necessary quality aged care and assisted living support</li><li>Increase awareness and engagement around the struggles of abandoned widow mothers</li></ul>Why donate to MaitriWinnie needs your support to help those in need of food, healthcare and well-being. “Maitri urgently needs your support to provide nutritious food, clothing and healthcare to sustain these widow mothers who are prone to more illnesses as they age,” appeals Winnie. “You can become the family they were denied. Hold their hands so they don't need to beg ever again,” she adds. Let’s rescue abandoned widows mothers from the streets of Vrindavan and give them a better future. Donate now.Our help will enable Maitri to save hundreds of abandoned widows from a life of begging, and restore the respect, dignity, and identity they deserve.

Help provide shelter, food, clothes and medical support to abandoned widow mothers of Vrindavan. Donate now

“I used to be sexually abused repeatedly, and when I screamed in pain, they hit and threatened me with more violence,” says Priya (name changed), a rescued child sex worker. Priya was abducted by traffickers and sold into a red-light area house before she was rescued by Guria led by Manju. For over two decades, Manju has been rescuing young girls forced into prostitution across the country. She has been shaken to the core seeing some of the most horrifying crimes that young girls have to undergo. “You can’t imagine the state of girls forced into sex work. The girls are given electric shocks and burnt with cigarette butts just to get kicks out of it. And if they get pregnant, the "owners" kick them repeatedly in the womb so that the child inside dies…If you want to see hell, it is here on this planet where young girls are sexually abused,” says Manju.Manju needs your help to rescue more young girls from forced prostitution and reunite them with their families. Donate now.Guria’s work over the yearsBased out of Varanasi, inarguably the holiest place in India, Manju and her organisation Guria, fights the sexual exploitation of girls, especially minors, by taking on the traffickers head-on, and rescuing and rehabilitating them.Started in 1993, Guria has rescued over 5500 persons from slavery, sex trafficking, and child prostitution so far. It has also been instrumental in shutting down hundreds of places that housed trafficked girls and putting scores of traffickers out of business and in jail.For instance, in 2005, a Guria-led rescue operation in Varanasi's red-light area led to the freeing of 49 women and girls, including minors. Many of them were kept against their will. Some of the traffickers were also arrested and tried. Since then, Guria has rescued thousands of young girls.Manju and her husband, Ajeet Singh began rescuing girls from Varanasi’s red-light areas and then working to stop the sex-trafficking of young girls within Uttar Pradesh and outside. The organisation’s aim is to eliminate the sex trafficking of women, especially minor girls, end second-generation prostitution and child prostitution, and rehabilitate women and girls who are rescued from the trade. Manju has faced violent backlash from the traffickers and other vested interests, but it has not deterred her from carrying on rescuing young girls from trafficking. Rescue and rehabilitationBesides rescuing girls trafficked for sex, mostly from low-income families, from across the country, Guria fights on their behalf in courts and also provides education, food, vocational training, and other facilities until they are united with their families. But because of a lack of funds, Guria is finding it difficult to rescue more girls and also take care of them once they are away from the clutches of the traffickers. Take the case of Sameena (name changed), who was abducted from Uttar Pradesh all the way to Telangana. Guria took it upon itself to rescue the girl with the help of its own work and also the authorities. After months of rehabilitation, Sameena went back to her family and even completed her education. With your support, Manju can rescue many more young girls from trafficking and help them live the life of their dreams.

Help Manju rescue young sex trafficking victims. Donate now

A period or menstruation is a natural, biological process of the female body. Unfortunately, it has become a source of suffering and illnesses for women and young girls from poor families as they can’t afford sanitary pads. “Proper menstrual hygiene is every woman’s right but has become a curse for many. No one should be denied this right, and sanitary pads should not be a luxury. Just for the sake of a ₹5 sanitary pad women and girls are putting their health and even their lives at risk,” says Khyati Gupta founder of Pinkishe Foundation. Khyati and her NGO are committed to ensuring that no woman or girl is deprived of something as basic as sanitary napkins.Pinkishe Foundation has identified 4,000 women and young girls from acutely poor backgrounds who need to be supported with monthly sanitary napkins. Without this support many girls might be forced to use unhygienic alternatives, putting at risk their health and wellbeing. Donate now to protect the right to safe menstruation.Donate easily through UPI, all debit/credit cards and net banking. Charitable donations to this fundraising campaign are tax exempted under 80G of the Income Tax Act (India).The shocking truth“In villages and tribal areas, girls cannot afford sanitary pads and therefore are forced to use things like dirty cloth, ash, hay, old newspapers, or even cow-dung cakes, to manage their period blood. Because of this, girls suffer various illnesses such as rashes and urinary tract infections, and these illnesses at times turn into cancer as well. Out of all the cervical cancer cases in the world, almost one-fourth of them occur in India. A major reason for that is that women are unable to maintain hygiene during periods, shares Khyati.According to Khyati, lakhs of girls are even forced to drop out of school after their first period because of their inability to manage their periods.Your donation can ensure that the health and future of women and girls from poor families are not compromised because of their inability to afford sanitary pads. Donate generously to give every woman and girl her right to safe menstruation.Donate to this fundraiser on Give.do, India’s largest and most trusted online donation platform, to help young girls and women from poor families receive free sanitary pads.NGO's 80G number: AADTP3680QF20218NGO's 12A number: AADTP3680QE20178

Join Khyati’s mission and ensure that no woman or girl is deprived of sanitary pads due to poverty

Aakar Social Ventures advances women’s empowerment through holistic menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) initiatives. We work to ensure that girls and women have accurate knowledge, safe and sustainable menstrual products, and the confidence to manage menstruation with dignity. Our programs address stigma, and misinformation by engaging adolescents, parents, caregivers, frontline workers, men, and community institutions in open dialogue and behaviour change. By integrating menstrual health within broader conversations on gender equality, reproductive health, nutrition, and environmental responsibility, we enable girls and women to build agency, stay in school, participate fully in society, and make informed decisions about their health and wellbeing.

Women Empowerment

Aakar Social Ventures works towards advancing holistic menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) through school and community-centred, gender-transformative approaches. We believe that sustainable change requires addressing not only access to menstrual products, but also the systems, behaviours, and social norms that shape menstrual experiences.Our work integrates knowledge-building, behaviour change, access to safe and sustainable menstrual products, and environmentally responsible disposal practices. We actively challenge stigma and foster open, informed dialogue around menstruation by engaging adolescents, women, men, caregivers, educators, and community institutions.Aakar Social Ventures designs and implements comprehensive MHH programmes that combine on-ground implementation with deep community engagement. Our expertise includes community-led menstrual and puberty education; promotion of safe, hygienic practices; environmentally responsible menstrual waste management; and Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) tailored to local contexts.We adopt gender-transformative approaches that build agency and confidence among adolescents and youth, while also working with families and community leaders to shift social norms. Through capacity building and Training-of-Trainers (ToT) models, we strengthen frontline workers and institutions to sustain impact beyond project cycles.Rooted in dignity, inclusion, and environmental responsibility, Aakar integrates menstrual health within broader conversations on reproductive health, nutrition, hygiene, and gender equity enabling long-term, systemic change and community ownership of health and wellbeing.

Donations through Give Foundation, Inc. a registered US 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization, are tax-deductible.

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Sharmila Chowdhury  

Aakar Social Ventures

This nonprofit is registered as a charitable trust under section 12A of India's Income Tax Act, 1961.

This nonprofit is registered under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010. This means it can accept donations from foreign nationals.

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Help provide shelter, food, clothes and medical support to abandoned widow mothers of Vrindavan. Donate now

Help Manju rescue young sex trafficking victims. Donate now

Join Khyati’s mission and ensure that no woman or girl is deprived of sanitary pads due to poverty

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