Lend_e-hand - hope is where heart is!
Founder  Rita Mittal  shares the journey and vision.
 

2020 Covid Pandemic is in the city and everything is upside down. Life has suddenly halted and breath that was most unappreciated underlying mesh of goal oriented life styles in modern era has now been acknowledged as the most precious commodity to survive, pun intended!
Like it or not, want it or not, think it or not, no matter how much advancement human race has observed in all capacities of science and technology and established benchmarks in all possible fields of arts and humanity, novel Corona Virus, the 19th in its family tree was just enough to shake it all.
 

Says Founder Rita Mittal, “Though I was watching all this from distance through news, articles, and word of mouth and so on… my heart was witnessing it and questioning me with great force - can I stand with/for/by the Community in this hour of despair? It was not easy to get through my own mental block of fear of unknown that was in the air, on the floor, with the touch, and most of the risk was so real that scared the togetherness with loved ones. Despite All, my strong belief in compassion and standing by who needs me, made me decide to lend the hand with distance hence lend_e-hand!“

Karma is a cycle and a beautiful force of life that can be stirred in direction we want, and it was my chance to test my theory. With this thought, I moved forward and was joined by many likeminded, warm hearted people. I was so amazed to see how community stands by each other and how much personalities of care and lets do attitude are all around me. And there was no looking back since then. Corona Virus attacked the human community as a whole and the intelligent and empaths of the society folded their sleeves and worked hard day and night to create a wall of masks around. It is commendable to see Community members coming together to  stitching masks,  making hand sanitizers and initiating selfless donations by friends and family.

With so much support and togetherness, my courage to fight it hard was only going getting directions to make this effort reach more people.
What is life without giveback, and not that I want it this way, but giving back to healthcare professionals and all first responders was the prime motive. Health Care professionals throughout the world have displayed highest morals of serving community and living by their oath and putting all medical knowledge to purpose. Such an act of bravery and martyr will be always written in golden words in history of humankind.

It is a bio-war situation. Knowing about unknown product line of market available mask, gloves supplies including masks variants like KN95, disposables, home made two layered, three layered masks, HIPAA compliant filters etc. with all technical specifications with medical recommendations was a big challenge for educating ourselves. Using social media to spread word and joining other similar thought based organizations, it was possible to reach more people who need help not just in Atlanta but also in other cities like Chicago, Virginia Beach, NYC, and Alabama etc.
On one side where Social Distancing is MUST and it is a responsibility to take care of yourself first, at the same time, it is also important to find ways to reach out to all who need helps with Corona prevention supplies. Lend_e-hand Volunteers team has been very instrumental in stitching masks, distributing masks and all possible coordination in safety limits.

Situation is a multilevel hit, where Corona tested positive was life threatening but also "quarantine” and 'isolation is brewing other general health and psychological issues. It is first time we have realized how important is social association to an extent that being social is being human. Keeping the sentiment going , Rita organized "Eachmileisablessing” drive where for the month of May 2020, many people from USA, India, Turkey, UK, friends and family joined and virtually ran/walk and dedicated miles as prayers for health care professionals. It was a beautiful display of coming together to display strength to fight against the biggest havoc of the century.

Rita extends her heartfelt special thanks to-
Mask Sew Team - Sujana, Mangla, Arti, Dharmendra, Girija, Mano, Meeta, Nupur, Rama, Siri, SriLaxmi, Surekha, Vani, Zuzana King, Swaroopa, Sri Padmaja, Sujiitak, Hyma, Priya.
Hand Sanitizer Efforts by Madhu Nemade and daughters.
Thankyou Lend_e-hand Volunteers for endless support.
Thankyou people for kind donations to help community with masks and supplies.
Thankyou Sundak Ganesan for your guidance related to layman medical queries to keep us calm and sane.

Lend_e-hand is committed to serve the community during Covid times. Rita says, my heart fills with hope and joy to see the maturing journey of this group committed to help the community. This group has "Karma and knowledge powered by compassion (K2C), a unique formula and right people and synergies to uplift and empower.
 

Written by Jeshna Ittoo
Lend_e-hand Volunteer!
 

For more information, please visit
https://www.facebook.com/Coronadareyou-107500950882729/