In the summer of 2020, as the Coronavirus pandemic hit the world, uncertainty and chaos has been unleashed in abundance. A lot of lives are threatened and more livelihoods at risk.
While the pandemic continues and disrupts the world, there are instances across the world of people willing to come together to help strangers around them. With the intent to make this easier for everyone, CovidSOS was launched to enable individuals to help distressed people near their houses.
The first version of the CovidSOS website
The intent initially was to assist senior citizens living alone with daily chores, but within a few weeks of launch, the initiative outgrew itself. With a few shout-outs on Linkedin and instagram, the word spread fast and over 2500 people came forward to be a part of the initiative. In a short span, 7000+ senior citizens, specially abled individuals and distressed families were helped out by volunteers across India.
There is more good in the world than we estimate
People genuinely want to help. A lot of people are caught up in their daily hustle and cannot stand-up for causes everyday but if they have an easy avenue to discover who needs help or how they can contribute meaningfully, lot more people come forward for it.
You don't need too many people to make a difference
Ideating, building and managing the project took ~100 hours of a handful of highly motivated individuals. Compare this with the thousands of people who's lives are being impacted through the initiative
Regular advise can multiply the impact disproportionately
Over a dozen advisors - who were experts in various fields advised us on a regular basis for the challenges that we were facing. This helped in not only building faster but building for impact.
With these learning, the Youth For Good Foundation is announcing it's fellowship program to enable the motivated people to come forward and make the world a better place.
Siddarth Jain
Founder/Director,
Youth For Good Foundation