This weekend was a mixture of joy and grief for me. The joy: #NESCBWI21. I officially accepted my Crystal Kite award at the New England SCBWI conference, presented the closing keynote address, and felt surrounded by the warmth of supportive friends and colleagues. It was a perfect virtual conference experience for me.
Yet, through it all, a part of me was immensely sad. COVID has been raging out of control in India and the tragedy was brought to international media attention last week. Many people I care deeply about live in India, some of whom are unwell or have suffered great loss. If you are in a position to help, here are links to 3 organizations I trust:
- HasiruDala works with adults and children like those in THE BRIDGE HOME : https://www.ketto.org/fundraiser/HasiruDalaCovidRelief. My cousin vouches for this organization and if you’d like to learn more about the parent waste management company, here it is: https://hasirudalainnovations.com/ It is an organization that I hope to be able to donate to regularly in the future, and the most closely related to the Vijis, Rukkus, Aruls and Muthus who need your help right now.
- Akshayapatra is another organization working hard to bring food to marginalized communities in India affected by the current tragedy: https://www.akshayapatra.org/covid-relief-services
- My brother-in-law is chairman of the British-Asia Foundation, which is doing a fundraiser as well: https://givematch.com/charity/british-asian-trust-uk
If you have any questions on any of this, as always, click on the post itself, and when the window refreshes with just the post, you should see a box for a response. Thank you for anything you feel able to do, to help others at this time of tragedy.
Updating and adding a few more links 5/7/2021. I wrote this post a few days ago. I am updating it today because since the time I wrote, things have only worsened in India. On a personal level it has been a roller coaster, and I spent so many days in prayer, to feel relieved about 2 people who are very dear to me; but this morning I received another piece of news that feels surreal and too shockingly close to share publicly. I will be offline to spend the weekend in prayer, among other things. But here are links to some other organizations.
Finally, below are links to a kidlit Covid-relief for India auction, to which I’ve donated 3 items.
https://www.booksforhope.org/items-for-auction/17-signed-books-padma-venkatraman
Thank you for letting us know how we can help!
PS For those who are not Indian nationals (such as US citizens), if you don’t want to give your passport number, go with the second organization as the first one asks for your passport number!
The author shares a personal update, expressing joy and grief during the #NESCBWI21 conference while highlighting the tragic COVID situation in India. The post provides links to three trusted organizations—HasiruDala, Akshayapatra, and British-Asia Foundation—for those who wish to contribute to COVID relief efforts in India. The author expresses gratitude for any support and updates the post with additional links due to the worsening situation in the country.