"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

For a mother who has spent her entire life loving and raising her child, being beaten and mercilessly thrown out onto the streets by her own son is too heartbreaking to overcome. But this is a common story among the elderly residents of the Guru Vishram Vridh Ashram. “I’ve seen mothers in old and torn clothes, their bodies smelling and their hands and feet rotting and covered in maggots,” shares Dr. G.P. Bhagat, founder of the ashram. These abandoned elderly men and women lay starving on the streets hoping for someone to rescue them from their suffering. But most people walk past them without a second glance. “Like this”, Dr. Bhagat explains, “many elders die on the roads.”Since 2003, SHEOWS (Saint Hardyal Educational and Orphans Welfare Society) has rescued over 10,000 elderly people from the streets and given them a home with care and support. The elderly staying at the ashram have all been abandoned by their families and have nowhere else to live. Your support can give them comfort after their abandonment. Donate now.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). Safe and loving homeFor 20 years, SHEOWS has been providing free shelter, nutritious food three times a day, clothing, medical care, recreation activities and emotional support to abused and disabled elderly people rescued from the streets of Delhi. The Guru Vishram Vridh Ashram has a dedicated rescue team that saves the elderly from the streets and gives them immediate medical care upon their arrival at the home. To tend to the multiple health complications of the seniors, the home has a medical facility with doctors and nurses, a physiotherapy unit, a pathology lab, a digital X-ray monitoring machine and a pharmacy to provide 24-hour care to older adults anytime they require assistance, even during emergencies. Dr. Bhagat prioritizes the health of the seniors and ensures that they receive three balanced meals a day based on their precise health requirements. Need for the fundraiserThe humanitarian mission of SHEOWS is making an impact in the area, as more and more people are being rescued and brought to Guru Vishram Vridh Ashram. To meet the financial costs of running the home, SHEOWS needs support to continue providing the residents with all the facilities that they need. This includes constant care and round-the-clock medical attention, nutritious food and maintaining a hygienic environment to keep the seniors in comfort and good health. Dr. Bhagat explains that as the number of residents is increasing, SHEOWS needs support for food and medicines. “I request you to help these elderly parents lead a peaceful life.”Donate now to help Dr. Bhagat continue caring for the 500 destitute elderly and giving them shelter, food, medical care and the will to carry on living despite their tragic abandonment by their families. Your support will enable SHEOWS to keep serving abandoned senior citizens and help them recover from the trauma of abandonment and life on the streets. “I have been serving these elderly as if they were my own parents”, shares Dr. Bhagat. “I want only one thing - their tears should vanish and they should have a smile on their faces.” To help Dr. Bhagat achieve this dream, your support is critical. Donate now to help SHEOWS care for more abandoned elderly. Donate to this fundraiser by Give, India’s largest online donation platform, to support SHEOWS in their mission to rescue the abandoned elderly from the streets and give them shelter, food, medical care, recreational activities and emotional support.

Help Dr. Bhagat care for 500+ elderly parents rescued from abuse and homelessness

Dattu Sopan Bhandare, 80, lives alone in Mudegaon village of the Beed district in Maharashtra. Hit by drought, his children have moved to urban areas and after his wife died a few years back, he has to take care of himself. But life has been hard for Dattu, as he cannot work in the fields any longer to meet his basic needs. “I feel helpless and I have gone to bed hungry many times,” he says.That was before Manavlok came to Dattu’s rescue. Through its Trupti Kitchen program, Manavlok provides 500 abandoned elderly people like Dattu with two meals a day.The problem in the drought-hit Marathwada is huge and Manavlok would like to expand its kitchen facilities to many more villages. But Manavlok cannot do it without your support. Donate now.Manavlok’s Mission “At present, we are providing meals in three drought-hit districts of Maharashtra. It’s our commitment that we will not allow these elderly people to live in hunger,” says Aniket Dwarkadas Lohiya, Secretary, Manavlok.It was way back in the 1970s that a group of youths decided to seek solutions to the socio-economic problems of rural communities in Maharashtra and started working in the region. After years of understanding and working in the field, Marathwada Navnirman Lokayat (MANAVLOK), was born. While Manavlok has various interventions, its Trupti Kitchen has been life-changing for many elderly citizens.Motinath Maruti Birgat is another example of this. Motinath, 75, used to beg on the streets to sustain himself after the younger members of the family left the village and his wife died. As he was unable to work due to old age or feed himself. But with the Trupti Kitchen Program in his village, Motinath no longer begs for food. Manavlok also provides medical and other forms of elderly care.How Trupti worksThe kitchen mainly supports elderly citizens above 65 years with no source of income, people with disabilities, the destitute, widows and elderly orphans. The programme already has a large impact in the areas where it is operating.It first approaches Gram Panchayats to understand the needs and the number of people who will need help through the kitchen. After a detailed study, Manavlok opens a community kitchen and encourages the elderly to come and have meals or supply meals to them at their doorstep.Manavlok needs helpThere are thousands of elderly people in the drought-hit region who need help. But Manavlok cannot expand its operations without your help. The organisation needs urgent help to feed and take care of abandoned elderly citizens in more districts of Maharashtra.“We are committed to supporting the elderly in their final years with meals and other forms of care. I come across many villages where elderly people are asking us for help by establishing community kitchens. We want your support to expand our operations,” says Lohiya.NGO's 80G number: AAATM4512BF2021401 NGO's 12A number: AAATM4512BE20214

This Guru Nanak Jayanti, help Manavlok save elderly people from malnutrition and starvation

This is a sample description for Disaster Relief. For the purpose of testing I will use the wordDisaster ReliefDisaster ReliefDisaster Relief.

Disaster Relief

This is a sample description for Elderly Care. For the purpose of testing I will use the word Elderly CareElderly CareElderly Care.

Elderly Care

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

Livelihood

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

Healthcare

elderly

HelpAge India is a secular, not-for-profit organization in India, registered under the Societies’ Registration Act of 1860. Set up in 1978, the organization works for ‘the cause and care of disadvantaged older persons to improve their quality of life’ HelpAge envisions a society where elderly have the right to an active, healthy and dignified life. It recently became the first and only Indian organization to be honoured with the ‘UN Population Award 2020’ for its exemplary work in the field of ageing, relief efforts work during the Covid 19 pandemic and recognition of the organization’s outstanding contribution to population issues and efforts in the realization of older persons rights in India.Currently there are a projected 138 million elderly in India. HelpAge India voices their concerns, so they can lead secure &amp; dignified lives. It works through 26 State Offices across India, runs numerous programs on-ground, addressing elder needs and advocating for their rights, such as their right to Universal Pension, quality Healthcare, action against Elder Abuse and many more at a national, state and societal level with Central and State governments. It advocates for elder friendly policies and their implementation thereof.The organization’s programs are focused on direct interventions in the areas of Healthcare (mobile healthcare units, cataract surgeries), Agecare (helplines, senior citizen care homes and day care centres, physiotherapy), Livelihoods (elder-self-help groups; linkages with government schemes), Disaster Response (e.g. covid19 relief response), as well as Advocacy and Awareness on rights and policies relating to elders.

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

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

Donations through GIVE, a registered charity in UK, are covered under Gift Aid

Bijay Kumar Mishra

HelpAge India

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.

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

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The elderly are most vulnerable to this COVID19 Virus which remain asymptomatic till nearly 14 days, new research puts the quarantine period at 28 days. In Social-Health-Economic impoverishment levels coupled with the occurrence of NCDs, it is assumed that every person over the age of 55 years, and especially women would be most vulnerable. As a precaution, all elderly over 60 years have been advised to stay at Home and not venture out unless it was a case of Medical emergency. Given the 66 day Lockdown the elderly, especially those in the villages face an unenviable future despite the pronouncements of aid by the Governments, even as their children find their way “home”, starved and jobless. This scenario for the rural elderly has only become pronounced and precarious with no inward remittances, no incomes from livelihoods, inability to procure subsidized medicines for their health needs, a depletion in savings and in some cases, forced to contract debt to support the returning migrant children. In a Post- COVID Impact Survey conducted by HelpAge India, it is established that 65% elder respondents stated that COVID 19 lockdown impacted their livelihood and 71% reported loss of livelihood of the main breadwinner. 
 HelpAge India works directly with nearly 80K rural elderly poor having institutionalized the concept of Collectives of Rural Elderly Poor around micro- Credit and Livelihoods. These Collectives the base of which are the Elders Self Help Groups or ESHGs have been federated at the Primary (Village/Habitation) and higher levels. HelpAge India would confer with the elderly and the Pusa Agriculture University to identify the most relevant and quick turnaround varieties of Vegetables, procure Certified Improved Variety Seeds directly from the National Seeds Corporation or through the Krishi Vignan Kendra's and distribute to the elderly through the Rural Elderly Collectives (Elders Self Help Groups). Two Separate Kits would be made, say Kit A and Kit B, with different varieties of vegetable seeds, enough for planting in ¼ acre. Both Kits would invariably have seeds for green leafy vegetables (such as Amaranthus, Mustard, Spinach and similar) as well as other region/season appropriate vegetables.Two Non-competing models have been identified to ensure that there is scope for mutual exchange, enough market and ensure no internal competition and therefore lower market prices when it came to sale of surplus. 
 HelpAge India has a direct continued presence with 58619 elderly in 4733 Elderly Elders Self Help Groups, practicing on-farm livelihoods in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Puduchery, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and West Bengal.At Four Kits per Collective the Fund Absorption Capacity translates to INR 94.65 lakhs for 18932 Direct Beneficiaries (+75000 indirect beneficiaries) and is Scalable to INR 1.60 Crores for 29310 Direct Beneficiaries (+110000 indirect beneficiaries) if providing to alternate members.

COVID19 – NUTRITION AND RELEVANT LIVELIHOODS RURAL ELDERLY COLLECTIVES

The number of visually impaired in India today is 12 million, and an additional 6.2 million cannot see because of cataract. This number is bound to increase to 31.6 million by 2020 since a lot of people cannot afford medical treatment. 
 HelpAge conducts free cataract surgeries to restore the eyesight of the inflicted. Over 50,000 surgeries were done in 2015-16 itself and over 9,00,000 surgeries have been sponsored by the organisation in the past 26 years. It is also important to note that all these surgeries were performed in sterile conditions in the operation theatres of reputed partner hospitals.Adherence to statutory Compliances: Leading ophthalmic care institutions, screened and selected with stringent due diligence partner with HelpAge India in this mission of saving and restoring vision. We provide end-to-end project management and monitoring across multiple locations. 
 -Widespread awareness generation -To enable timely prevention and treatment-Awareness and screening (cataract detection) camps-Restoration of vision through free cataract surgeries and post-operative care for cataract affected needy elderly

A Gift of Sight

India has an elderly population of 138 million people, i.e. those above 60 years old. Of our elder population, of which 55 million sleep hungry, and 12 million elderly are going blind from cataract. 90% elders must work to survive, as they have no pension, PF, financial support, or medical coverageIndia’s elder population is rapidly increasing. In 20 years, it is expected to be 200 million. By 2050, the elder population will reach 351 millionElderly are the most vulnerable to Covid-19, lowered immunity, and health conditions, given their advanced age. India’s elders face daily hardships. 90% live in poverty, with no financial support. 25% can’t access or afford healthcare, 20% face total isolation &amp; neglect, and 40% face crime or abuse. 
 HelpAge India is a leading, credible, national level NGO with a mission “to work for the cause and care of disadvantaged elders and to improve their quality of life”. Registered in 1978 under the Societies' Registration Act of 1860, HelpAge works to protect the rights of India's elderly and provide them relief, to enable them to live better and healthier lives.India’s elderly face deprivations under three categories; economic, health, and emotional. HelpAge undertakes nationwide programmes focusing on welfare and upliftment of disadvantaged elderly. These include Covid response interventions, Survival Packages (food &amp; hygiene supplies), 2 million+ free treatments via 160+ Mobile Health Units, REACH Rapid Response Helplines in 20 cities handling over 30,000 distress calls p.a., Livelihoods initiatives enabling 67,000 elders to earn income via 5,500 Self-Help Groups, Vision Restoration to over a million needy elders via cataract surgeries &amp; refractive glasses, Support a Gran programme that provides for the basic &amp; financial needs to destitute elders, Empowerment of Senior Citizens, 70,000 Physiotherapy treatments, support to several Old Age Homes, 100,000 Cancer treatments, provision of Disability Aids, AgeCare initiatives for wellness and fitness, Advocacy for elder rights &amp; entitlements, Disaster Relief &amp; Rehabilitation, as well as Fighting Elder Abuse. 
 Currently there are 138 million elderly in India. HelpAge India voices their concerns, so they can lead secure &amp; dignified lives. It works through 26 State Offices across India, runs numerous programs on-ground, addressing elder needs and advocating for their rights, such as their right to Universal Pension, quality Healthcare, action against Elder Abuse and many more at a national, state and societal level with Central and State governments. It advocates for elder friendly policies and their implementation thereof.The organization delivers positive impact via its direct interventions in the areas of Healthcare (mobile healthcare units, cataract surgeries), AgeCare (helplines, senior citizen care homes and day care centres, physiotherapy), Livelihoods (elder-self-help groups; linkages with Government schemes), Disaster Response (e.g. covid19 relief response), as well as Advocacy and Awareness on rights and policies related to the elderly.HelpAge India impacts the lives of 1.5 million elders each year, and is counting on your donations to reach many more.

#EldersMatter - HelpAge 1206

Kerala is facing its worst monsoon and floods have ravaged the state in an unprecedented fashion, triggering landslides, destroying crops, livestock, property, infrastructure and lives. The death toll is estimated to be more than 400 people and nearly 7 lakh people have been displaced.Kerala has a 12% elderly population, which is quite significant a number. During such disasters, old people are the worst affected, as they are left behind and are unable to run or escape to safer areas due to their physical fragility and mobility issues. They have problems accessing relief trucks/ boats in time, as younger members tend to clamber faster and access relief material quicker. Many as a result succumb to the disaster. “People have lost everything, their lifelong earnings, it is back to square one for them. Many people have only the clothing left on their bodies, and nothing else for survival. We are therefore focusing on providing medical relief and essential dry ration and non-food items to last at least over the next few weeks. Besides the financial losses, the mental trauma of those affected is unimaginable. They have to rebuild their lives from scratch. The task ahead is massive and there is so much more to be done”, says Biju Mathew, State Head- Kerala, HelpAge India. 
 The HelpAge India Disaster Management Team has been working round the clock through its mobile healthcare units, providing much needed medical aid and relief kits to the 4 most affected districts of Wayanad, Palakkad, Pathanamthitta and Idukki. “In a disaster, it is difficult to segregate between the young and old, as everyone is affected. But we, at HelpAge try our level best to reach out to as many older persons we can during such a disaster. We hope to largely focus on the elderly in the rehabilitation phase, which is not too far away now, with the water receding. That will be a herculean task. Health immunity levels are low, especially amongst elders, the risk and fear of water-borne diseases is looming overhead and we want to be prepared. Our mobile healthcare units are also stocking themselves with chlorine and bleaching powder as part of the preparedness” says Mathew Cherian, HelpAge India, CEO. 
 As the flood waters recede, the main focus will be on rehabilitation to prevent the outbreak of any possible epidemics and water-borne diseases. HelpAge India plans to start the rehabilitation work through livelihood projects in Wayanad and Idukki districts for the affected and marginalized senior citizens, especially focusing on the tribals. HelpAge India’s disaster management team is focussing currently on providing emergency medical care and relief kits - both ration kits and non-food kits. The ration kit includes essential and dry food items such as rice, suji rava, sambar, basic spices, coconut oil, basic vegetables like potato, onion, dal, green gram, drinking water etc. The non-food kit includes items such as Dettol, soap, towel, disinfectants, sleeping mats, bucket, mug etc.In Wayanad, 130 families have already been provided with 600 relief kits, and another 270 kits are in distribution. In Idukki, coming Saturday, 600 kits will be distributed. On the medical front, 1477 treatments have been carried out so far through 5 mobile healthcare units working in Wayanad, Palakkad, Pathananthitta and Idukki. HelpAge India mobile healthcare units from neighboring states such as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have been moved to the affected areas to cover as much ground as possible and reach out to as many people in need.