AID Delhi Chapter - AID India, Delhi Chapter

Volunteers were organized according to their experience and expertise. People willing to spend more than two weeks were directed to the Chennai office. There they were assigned work and sent to the affected areas. Others, who could spare less time, were assigned work like documentation and sorting of relief materials at our godown in Chennai. For the collection of relief material, we approached many companies to organize relief collection camps in their premises. All the companies we approached agreed readily. The camps saw an overwhelming response. We had camps at ST Microelectronics, Fidelity, Private Sector Partnerships-One Abt Associates and ITC. Besides these companies, we had a lot of donations in both cash and kind from numerous individuals. The most striking aspect of these donations was that these came from people of varied economic backgrounds. But the intentions were the same. Everyone wanted to contribute in whatever way they could. After the collections, we sorted all the material and packed them neatly into cartons with labels on top. The intention was to relieve our over-worked friends at Chennai of the extra-effort.

In all, we collected over 5 tonnes of relief material packed into more than 260 cartons. These included 5 cartons of essential medicines, more than 7000 new clothes (donated by ITC) and dry ration. The relief truck was flagged off from the ST Microelectronics office, which also served as our sorting center, with a prayer and a one-minute silence for the millions affected by the killer Tsunamis. We also pledged our complete support and help for those whose life had changed forever.

Let’s together build a Tsunami of hope, love and compassion that would dwarf the ones that unleashed their fury on the 26th of December last year. We at AID Delhi believe that this misfortune has changed a lot of things and some for the better. We feel this immense loss has brought together the entire humanity cutting across borders, religions and petty politics. We could feel this energy and eagerness when we approached people for help. We are happy to acknowledge the fact that this time the people approached us to help and to seek ways to reach out to those affected, before we approached them for help. We at AID Delhi are overwhelmed by the response and promise to work and support our volunteers in Chennai for the holistic development of the entire affected region.