SINGAPORE (UCAN): Caritas Singapore launched a campaign to raise funds to help India fight the deadly Covid-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. India has been the centre of global attention as a second wave of the contagion has caused a catastrophe in the nation of 1.3 billion (Sunday Examiner, May 9). India has registered more than 21 million cases and over 230,000 deaths by the first week of May during which the country recorded more than 412,600 new cases and over 3,000 deaths daily.
Caritas India earlier made an urgent appeal for global solidarity to help it respond to the second wave of the pandemic ravaging the country (Sunday Examiner, May 9).
Officials from Caritas Humanitarian Aid and Relief Initiatives Singapore (CHARIS) said they hoped to raise S$300,000 ($1.75 million) to provide monetary aid and supplies to India.
Thanks to generous individual and institutional donations, India Covid-19 Response, a joint partnership between the Singapore Red Cross (SRC), Caritas Singapore and Caritas India, has raised more than three times the expected amount, according to the CHARIS website.
The response was overwhelming with SRC raising more than S$500,000 ($2.92 million) in four days from its online and offline platforms and via Give.asia, The Straits Times reported.
“CHARIS would like to express our deepest gratitude for the overwhelming support and generosity that you had shown towards the India Covid-19 Response. In a span of a few days, we have received more than three times our initial target. We have closed this campaign as we have surpassed our initial target and are working with our partner organisations towards the judicious and effective ways of deploying the funds as we continue to receive additional requests from our collaborators on the ground,” CHARIS said on its website.
“We give praise to the Lord for inspiring all of us to come together and provide for our neighbors in need. Jesus Christ multiplied five loaves and two fishes to feed 5,000. With the same faith, may our little actions of love be multiplied for our brothers and sisters in India,” it said.
CHARIS also joined with SRC, which made a public appeal on April 28 to trade bodies and charities to donate to a fund for Covid-19 relief for India.
The response was overwhelming with SRC raising more than S$500,000 ($2.92 million) in four days from its online and offline platforms and via Give.asia, The Straits Times reported.
In collaboration with Caritas India, CHARIS aims to set up seven Covid-19 treatment centres to offer basic medical services to patients.
CHARIS is also partnering with SRC to purchase and send respiratory equipment to India.
Various charities and trade bodies have also been raising funds to support India’s Covid-19 battle.
The Indus Entrepreneurs Singapore, the local chapter of a leading global entrepreneur and investor foundation, launched Mission India on April 29. It aims to raise S$1.3 million ($7.59 million) by May 12 to offer medical supplies to India. It reported that S$75,000 ($438,400) was raised in less than a day.
Makan For Hope, a charity that encourages entrepreneurs and industry leaders to donate to society, announced that full amounts collected from participants joining their sessions in May will be donated to SRC.
Meanwhile, Singapore’s government has sent two planeloads of oxygen cylinders to India to help tackle an acute, unprecedented shortage of oxygen. The shipment was flown by the Republic of Singapore Air Force in two C-130 planes to West Bengal, one of the worst-hit states in India.
In addition, Singapore also shipped medical equipment, including oxygen-related supplies, to India on May 2.
