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

“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.

Help ex-IAF officer rescue abandoned women and provide them with food and shelter

No person chooses to be homeless and begging on the streets. But the unfortunate reality is that many elderly people end up on the streets because they are kicked out of the house by their children or abandoned by their families. Once on the streets, they are alone, starving, begging and in danger of being exploited. P. Naveenkumar of Atchayam Trust rescues the homeless and abandoned elderly and provides them shelter, medical attention, healthy meals and vocational skills to rebuild their lives.Your support can help Naveenkumar to feed and continue to transform their lives. ﻿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), &amp; 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (USA). Naveenkumar often finds the elderly in pitiable conditions. Since the homeless elderly are unable to bathe or change their clothes, they are covered in ants, flies, sores and wounds and their bodies start to smell. This makes people chase them away and even physically abuse them. Since 2014, Atchayam Trust has rescued, sheltered, counselled and rehabilitated more than 12,000 beggars and transformed their lives with counselling, skills training and job placements. But the 80 elderly and homeless grandparents rescued from the streets are in danger of losing their homes. Your donation will help them have shelter, nutritious food and the care they need to be rehabilitated.A home of comfort and transformation Founded by P. Naveenkumar in Erode in Tamil Nadu, Atchayam Trust gives the rescued elders shelter, medical attention, 3 healthy meals a day, counselling and vocational skills training. In many cases, Atchayam Trust also reunites the abandoned elderly with their families so they can live out their remaining years with their loved ones. When the abandoned grandparents pass away, their funerals are conducted according to their appropriate traditions and with compassion and care.  A founder with compassionWhen Atchayam Trust’s founder Naveenkumar cleared his GATE and TANCET exams as a young man, he was all set to join an MNC. But when he saw homeless senior citizens suffering on the streets in miserable conditions, it moved him so deeply that he wondered, “Why are old grandparents suffering alone on the streets like this and what can I do to help them?” That’s when Atchayam Trust was founded with the vision to create a “beggar-free India”. Need for the fundraiserNaveenkumar shares that “when people are born, they are happy. Likewise, when they pass away, they should be happy and not alone and miserable.” But far too many abandoned and homeless people die alone in misery and heartache. Atchayam Trust aims to rescue and care for these homeless beggars, but Naveenkumar now needs your support to continue caring for the 80 beggars in his care and reach out to many more with love and affection. “Just because of a lack of money”, he shares, “no human soul should be left all alone on the streets.”  Donate now to help Naveenkumar continue to shelter and care for the 80 elderly beggars taken off the streets and give them shelter, food, medical care and comfort to help them live despite being abandoned by their families.

Help Naveenkumar of Atchayam to provide food and shelter to elders left to beg on streets. Donate now.

We develop approrpiate housing solutions (rentals, worksite housing, etc.) for low-income workers mograting from rural to urban areas. 

Community & Rural Development

ShelterSquare Foundation (SSF) is a non-profit company registered in August 2023 under Section 8 of The Companies Act of India, 2013. Donations to SSF are exempted from income tax under Sections 80G and 12AA of the Income Tax Act, 1961. We aim to promote equitable and dignified housing for workers in the unorganized and informal sector. Our Vision is to become a leading enabler and provider of housing pathways. In doing so, we aspire to raise the benchmark of housing supply and management for worker communities and influence existing housing markets through demonstration, competition, and partnerships. Our Mission is to develop appropriate, demand-driven, and value-added housing solutions for migrant workers in urban areas. Since attaining housing stability is a step-by-step process for a vulnerable worker, we endeavor to enable housing pathways for different life-cycle stages.

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

Swastik Harish

ShelterSquare Foundation

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.

A big thanks to all our donors! We have managed to raise a substantial amount through this drive. Since about Feb/Mar 2025, we have been giving an egg a day to all the workers who wanted it (some don't want it and others, everyday due to cultural reasons and preferences). The effort is being appreciated by our tenant workers a lot. We aim to continue this practice as long as the money lasts. We will get back to you soon on how we plan to continue our efforts to make their food healthier.

We have been giving an-egg-a-day to our tenant workers for the last few months

Thank you all for your support so far! It is amazing (and humbling) to receive such love and support for the idea. One of you has separately given us a Rs. 1 lakh donation for the one egg a day project - we are deeply indebted to them. This generosity has allowed us to reduce the target of this fundraiser, but even so, we are some distance from it. I'm hoping you all will spread the word around in your networks and help us reach the target.

A kind donor gave us Rs. 1 lakh!

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

Help ex-IAF officer rescue abandoned women and provide them with food and shelter

Help Naveenkumar of Atchayam to provide food and shelter to elders left to beg on streets. Donate now.

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