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

Most of Sharanalayam’s children have ‘V’ as their initial. The ‘V’ stands for ‘Vanitha,’ the founder of the NGO. For the orphaned and the abandoned kids, Vanitha is simply ‘Thaiamma’ (mother). One of them is V Dhanushya, 18, who is studying nursing. “Thaiamma has taken care of me since I was six months old. I don’t know who I was born to, but if somebody asks me my mother’s name, I will say Vanitha,” Dhanushya says.But Vanitha, at 72, is seeking your support to keep Sharanalayam running and help many more Dhanushyas. Donate now.Donations to this fundraiser are tax exempted under 80G of the Income Tax Act (India). <img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/519af8b4-e1d1-4974-98c3-a9a15120df8b.png" />“A sex worker’s child should not become a sex worker, and a beggar’s child should not end up becoming a beggar. Every child, in my eyes, is equal, and no child deserves to live on the streets. That is my basic philosophy,” says N Vanitha Rengaraj, chairperson of Sharanalayam.For rescued abandoned infants from bus stands, railway stations, roadsides and temple steps and orphans adopting whose parents have died, Sharanalayam has been a loving home for close to two decades. Vanitha has also been taking care of abandoned HIV-infected and mentally challenged kids. Today, over 80 abandoned kids are given shelter, food, medical care, education and other amenities at Sharanalayam.Vanitha has tried her best to run Sharanalayam from her own resources and that of her well-wishers, but the last two years have been harsh. “I have never extended my hands asking people to donate, but I have to do it now for the sake of the children under my care,” says Vanitha. Donate now.Over 80 children at Sharanalayam attend school and do well in their studies. Many of them study in private schools and Sharanalayam bears all expenses.How Sharanalayam came into beingThe NGO started its operations in 2001 from rented premises in Pollachi in the district of Coimbatore. It had seven children. The first child to be brought to Sharanalayam was a baby of four, who was mentally challenged, and her mother chained the daughter when she went out to work.When Vanitha came to know about this child, she went to inquire and saw that the baby was in a horrible state. She promised the mother that she would take care of the baby. “The baby hardly had any strength. She used to be called ‘insect’ by the people in the neighbourhood. The doctor said that she might not survive beyond a month. But she did for over a year, under my care. I named her Shakthi,” recalls Vanitha.Sharanalayam has come a long way since that time, with hundreds of children being taken care of by the NGO in the last two decades. Many have become professionals in various fields, including medical care, engineering, counselling, banking, etc.Sharanalayam needs urgent support to take care of 80 children under its care. The organisation also aspires to take care of many more orphaned and abandoned children in the coming months and years. Vanitha cannot do it without your support. Donate now.

Help 72-year-old Vanitha provide 80 abandoned orphans with shelter and care

“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

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 of our supporters! We are taking stock at the end of the financial year and have decided to pause this fund raiser for the moment. We will restructure this soon, especially since the cooking fuel crisis is putting a strain on many people's budgets and work-life conditions. We will be in touch soon, and heartfelt thanks again!

We are closing this fund raiser as of now. Thank you all for your support and love

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 72-year-old Vanitha provide 80 abandoned orphans with shelter and care

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

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