"My son used to kick me when he was in my womb. Why make an issue when he kicked me in my old age?" reasons a very forgiving Shakti Dasi. The widow travelled 2300 kms from Tripura to Vrindavan after her only son violently beat her with a burning plank of wood and broke her knee one evening. She had to leave behind the business she had built with her husband who had died a few years back. Shakti ended up on the streets of Brindavan begging for food and shelter. But when Winnie Singh of Maitri saw Shakti in a frail state in tattered clothes, she brought her to the shelter home where Shakti gets food, care and medicines. What more, with Maitri’s intervention, Shakti reconciled with her son - and daughter-in-law, and now travels home to Tripura twice a year to spend time with her grandchildren. But she is not leaving Maitri, as this has become her family.Not every elderly widow who comes to Vrindavan after being abandoned by her family gets as lucky as Shakti. Many of them often end up living a lonely life and begging to survive on the streets. Maitri aspires to take care of every widow in need of help.<img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/ce101369-528c-4d37-bc1d-1118b9925af3.jpg" />Maitri’s Project Jeevan to the rescueAbandoned, elderly widows are the amongst the most vulnerable in India. After being thrown out of their often abandoned by their own children and are forced to beg for food and shelter. “Through Project Jeevan, Maitri houses aging widow mothers in two ashrams in Vrindavan and Radhakund (Mathura), providing them with wellness and well-being. The programme also reaches out to widow mothers beyond the ashrams with fruit, milk and healthcare services,” explains Winnie Singh, co-founder and executive director, Maitri India.Save homeless elderly widows from begging on the streetsMost widows who make their way to Vrindavan are abandoned by their families, often after years of abuse. They come here hoping they will spend the rest of their days in prayer and devotion. But most live in impoverished conditions on the streets and in dingy rooms. Since poor living conditions often cause a wide range of health ailments, including respiratory infections and chronic conditions, Maitri comes to their rescue through its Project Jeevan.The project aims to:<ul><li>Provide 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 on and engagement around the struggles of abandoned widow mothers</li></ul><img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/1abfb906-563b-4747-85b8-8af2071a2856.jpg" />Project Jeevan needs your support to help those in need of food, healthcare and well-being. Donate now.“Maitri urgently needs your support to provide food, clothing and healthcare to sustain these widow mothers who are prone to more illnesses as they age,” appeals Winnie.Maitri believes in a woman’s right to dignity in life and death, more so a mother. 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.

Save abandoned, elderly widow mothers of Vrindavan from begging on streets

“What will happen to them after me? I am 80+. I spend sleepless nights,” worries ex-Air Force officer, Group Captain AC Barua while talking about the future of the 28 destitute women under his care. “They have nobody in this world, sometimes they don’t remember their own names. They are absolutely alone,” he informs us as he goes from one room to the other meeting all the women who live at Seneh, the only home where they are loved and taken care of. After fighting for his country all his life, this octogenarian is now fighting to rescue homeless and abandoned women from dying on the streets. But he cannot do it alone. “Everyday I keep on getting calls from here and there. ‘Oh! there’s a woman lying here. Can you help?’ But I don’t dare to go and help because I don’t have the money. I don’t have the resources, our resources are very limited,” explains Gr. Capt. Barua who is lovingly called ‘Sir’ and ‘Deuta’ (father in Assamese) by the residents of Seneh. With your help, 80-year-old Group Captain Barua can fulfill his mission of rescuing abandoned and homeless women from dying on the streets, alone. Donate nowDonate easily through UPI, all debit/credit cards and net banking. All donations to this fundraising campaign are tax exempted under 80G of the Income Tax Act (India), &amp; 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (USA).Seneh- a home filled with love, care and hopeThe residents of Seneh often don’t remember who they are, where they have come from. Many times these are women with mental health conditions and considered being a witch due to superstitious beliefs and beaten up as a result. They are victims of domestic abuse or widow mothers who are considered to be a burden on the family. Group Captain Barua has not only rescued them from critical conditions, he has provided them with urgent medical care, food and above all, a free safe shelter where they can live with love and care. Among these residents is Sarala Kalita who fled to save herself from the tortures of her alcoholic husband only to face neglect and trauma from her brothers- and sisters-in-law. “Both my brothers and their wives urged my father to leave me somewhere as they didn’t want to take care of me anymore. One day my brother’s wife didn’t even let me have food at home. She just wanted me to leave and go away. So that’s why, my father got in touch with Seneh through someone, and handed me over to Sir to take care of me,” says Sarita who has found joy in living at Seneh. “Coming to Seneh, it felt like I got a new life altogether. Sir has given me a harmonium. I love singing. It makes me forget everything and takes me to someplace else entirely,” she adds. More women like Sarala can find their way to a loving home like Seneh. All they need is a little bit of your kindness. “It is difficult to make both ends meet”To sustain their daily expenditure, Capt Barua needs approx ₹3 lakh a month and arranging the funds is a mammoth challenge for the NGO. “Our expenses are growing day by day. Residents are growing older, their sicknesses are increasing. At times we have to give them special food. They require more care so we have to get more employees. About half of them require leading around, 1-2 has to be fed also. It will be very difficult to sustain it unless we get help,” he added. One act of your kindness can save these abandoned women, with no one in this world, from struggling on the streets to survive. At 80+ Gr. Capt. Barua cannot sustain Seneh on his own. “With folded hands, I appeal to all. Please come and please help us. Let us help these people, these old people who have nobody in this world. They are dying. They will die on the streets,” he urged. Donate to this fundraiser by Give.do to support retired Air Force officer, Group Captain Barua in his mission to rescue abandoned and homeless women from dying on the streets.

After fighting for India, former Air Force officer is now fighting to save abandoned women. Help him, donate now

Cattle, bred for profit and abandoned after they stop producing milk, are often found malnourished, injured or sick on city streets. Many face bitter winters, starvation and death in road accidents - a sad fate for cows in a country where they are revered by lakhs of people. To save cows from such a sad end, Swami Ishwar Das started Shree Krishnayan Desi Gaushala, currently home to 18,000+ abandoned cows. But with the rising costs of fodder and medicines, he is struggling to provide the quality of care such mistreated animals deserve. “It was in 2010 when I witnessed abandoned cows from the streets in Uttarakhand being transported in a truck. The cows were administered anesthesia and stacked one above the other like lifeless goods. When me and a few of my acquaintances brought the cows off the truck, two of them died before my eyes and that sight shook me to the core. It was then that I started Shree Krishnayan Gaushala with 11 abandoned cows in a small donated land,” says Swami Ishwar Das.Swami Ishwar Das is unable to bear the rising cost of nutrition and medical care for injured cows and needs support to continue to save these voiceless animals. Donate now. All donations on this platform are tax exempted under 80G of the Income Tax Act (India), &amp; 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (USA).<img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/ead01668-6b4d-4a8c-85de-30b43e174f22.JPG" />Every life matters“Here at Shree Krishnayan Desi Gaushala, it is our resolve to leave no stone unturned in caring for helpless cows. No matter what the cost of treatment may be, we make every possible effort to aid ill and injured cows. Our only objective is that a cow should not lose its life for the want of medical care, food or water,” says Swami Ishwar Das. In order to provide the best quality of care and treatment to its adopted cattle, three well trained veterinary doctors attend the gaushala 24/4. The NGO - Shree Krishnayan Desi Gauraksha Avam Golokdham Seva Samiti - spares no expense in providing nutrition either. From jaggery and grains to a healthy mix of green and dry fodder, cows are given meals best suited to their needs.With cost of fodder on rise the Gaushala needs help<img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/93e7eafe-4438-40d6-ae40-6972feaf0988.jpg" />Swami Ishwar Das and his team, however, are struggling to keep up with rising costs of nutrition and medical care for cows. “The cost of fodder has risen by almost three times in the last couple of years. From food to medicines everything has become expensive. And we will never compromise with the quality of care and love that we want to give to our cows,” says Swami Ishwar Das. Help Swami Ishwar Das provide the best care and love to abandoned cows while saving them from a desperate life of starvation and suffering on the streets.

Help Swami Ishwar Das rescue cows on roads, abandoned as they no longer produce milk

This is a sample description for Environment For the purpose of testing I will use the word EnvironmentEnvironmentEnvironment.

Environment

This is a sample description for Community & Rural Development. For the purpose of testing I will use the word Community & Rural DevelopmentCommunity & Rural DevelopmentCommunity & Rural Development.

Community & Rural Development

Gram Vikas, which literally translates to “Village Development”, has been working for the well-being of Adivasi and marginalized communities in inaccessible rural areas since 1979. Our vision is ‘an equitable and sustainable society where people live in peace with dignity. Our work is organized into six programmatic pillars - Village Institutions, Water, Livelihoods, Sanitation and Health, Habitat and Technologies, Education and Youth. Currently, we work in 15 districts of Odisha and 1 district of Jharkhand with 1.12 lakh households in 1960 habitations. Gram Vikas strives to promote sustainable, socially inclusive and gender-equitable practices amongst partner village communities, thus enabling them to take control over their lives and reach a heightened sense of empowerment. We characterize ‘dignified quality of life' of people or communities as access to basic education and adequate health services, appropriate family and community infrastructure and sources of energy, sustainable use and management of natural resources, and strong self-governing people’s institutions with equal participation of women and men. Gram Vikas operates through the “Movement and Action Network for Transformation of Rural Areas (MANTRA)” approach, in operation since 2004. The major tenets of MANTRA are 100% inclusion of the communities, ensuring social and gender equity, cost-sharing, and institutional and financial sustainability of the intervention. Our work has empowered the lives of 5,50,980 people across 2451 villages in Odisha and Jharkhand. Specifically, work in natural resources management has regenerated 10,370 hectares of wasteland into fruit, fuel and fodder plantations. The integrated water sanitation programme has led to an 85% reduction in water borne diseases across 1311 villages and 24x7 access to the water supply to 76,136 households. We have enabled 54,571 households to adopt renewable energy for cooking.

Donations through Give Foundation, registered under section 80G of India's Income Tax Act, 1961 are tax-deductible.

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Gram Vikas

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

This nonprofit is registered under section 80G of India's Income Tax Act, 1961. This means you can deduct 50% of the donation you made through your tax return.

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The project deals with the impact of climate change on water security, and its resultant effects on land use and agriculture-based livelihoods of rural communities in Odisha. It addresses worsening water insecurity in locations where water has historically been abundant.The work covers habitations in Thuamul Rampur Block in the Kalahandi district of Odisha. In the project habitations, 65% of the participants belong to Scheduled Tribes, and 20% belong to Scheduled Castes. The northern and eastern parts of the Block are forested, while the southern part is completely degraded due to indiscriminate exploitation of the forests. Habitations in Thuamul Rampur face severe water shortage, despite an average annual rainfall of over 2000 mm. The Indravati dam project, bauxite mining in the neighbouring hills, large tracts of land declared as Reserve Forest, and practices like slash and burn cultivation and open grazing have caused a large-scale reduction of forest cover. The shrinkage in forest access, increased pressure on available patches, and rising population has resulted in non-regeneration of the tree cover and heavy erosion of the topsoil. This damaged the spring catchments, reduced groundwater availability and quality, and caused topsoil erosion. Over time, soil fertility and land productivity declined, reducing the per acre yield.A baseline study in 2018 found that in the project villages, there is a 15% decrease in water discharge, during April to June every year; 11 perennial springs had become seasonal with no water discharge during the summer; and 540 acres of hilly land were barren. None of the farmers in the habitations was taking up a second crop due to a lack of availability of soil moisture or water post-monsoon over the last five years. The project addresses climate change by empowering the village communities to address the rapidly deteriorating ecological balance. It helps them adapt to the challenges posed by climate change to access to water, livelihoods, and wellbeing. In partnering with Adivasi communities, in some of the poorest regions of India, to help build resilience against climate change, we help them realise their right to a dignified life. 
 The project enables forest dependent communities, in habitations with limited access to forest resources, to create, own and manage their own productive forests, in order to: <ul><li>ensure water source sustainability</li><li>improve water availability for drinking and domestic uses</li><li>increase soil moisture conservation and fertility, and </li><li>enable diversification of natural resources-based livelihoods</li></ul> The increase in forest cover will lead to:<ul><li>Increased carbon sequestration </li><li>Improved access to water for domestic and livelihood purposes </li><li>Improved access to fodder and fuel wood </li><li>Increase in food availability over the year through better crop productivity with use of improved packages of practices, leading to better food security </li><li>Income generation opportunities for families affected by lack of farm income due to change in farm and off-farm practices linked to climate change</li></ul>Salient features of the project include demystifying technology, building community capabilities, and ensuring sustainability and replicability:<ul><li>Women and men from the villages trained as Jala Bandhu (para geo-hydrologists and entrepreneurs), to assess the health of springs and other water sources and strengthen water resource management at the community level </li><li>Use of open-source mobile applications, to measure water discharge and build an inventory the water sources </li><li>Geo-tagging of water sources and their characteristics for creating an evidence-based resource management system </li><li>Creating and maintaining “water passbook” for each habitation and GP to enable ‘water-smart’ decision making</li><li>Addressing the interdependencies that exist in an climate-focused ecosystem - drinking water, sanitation, livelihoods etc.</li><li>Making people’s self-governing institutions, such as village development committees, women’s self help groups, farmer/producer groups, more capable and resilient </li><li>Building capabilities of Panchayati Raj Institutions</li><li>Mechanisms for convergence with local governments and government schemes</li></ul> 
 Our aim is to make 1000 Gram Panchayats in Odisha and Jharkhand ‘Water Secure’ by the year 2030, by building rural community capabilities to fight effects of climate change through adoption and scale up of the project. So far, the project has built 19,276 staggered contour trenches, 55 gully plugs, 77,500 cubic feet of field bunds across 540 acres. Restoration of forest ecosystems has contributed to rejuvenation of water sources and enhanced the carbon sequestration potential. It has resulted in:<ul><li>540 acres of land has been treated as per the watershed and springshed principles  </li><li>1,58,730 saplings of fuel and timber species planted </li><li>13,110 saplings of mango and cashew planted has helped to diversify income sources</li><li> Increased green cover in 100 acres has helped to reduce run-off and increase in soil moisture  </li><li>Created carbon sequestration potential of 1,31,000 tons of CO2  </li><li>Resulted in 15% increase in discharge of water sources </li><li>Increased water availability and soil moisture to raise a second crop of paddy/ pulses in 207 acres of land </li><li>Increased soil moisture in 165 acres helped decrease costs of irrigation using fossil fuels</li></ul>

Restore Forests & Rejuvenate Springs to Fight Climate Change

Save abandoned, elderly widow mothers of Vrindavan from begging on streets

After fighting for India, former Air Force officer is now fighting to save abandoned women. Help him, donate now

Help Swami Ishwar Das rescue cows on roads, abandoned as they no longer produce milk

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