Vulnerable Ugandan Families Emergency COVID-19 Aid

Arvind Thomas is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

We seek your urgent assistance to support a vegan humanitarian organization (the Podrska Foundation - https://podrskafoundation.org/) committed to fulfill the urgent needs of 200 vulnerable orphans, single-women with HIV, and their adult family members in Uganda. Due to COVID-19 and the current lock down, the situation for these families is even more critical. High illiteracy rates, poor nutrition, poor housing, water logging and poor sanitation mean that these families are especially vulnerable to COVID-19. The lock down also means severe disruption to their means of getting food for survival. Currently there is no other means of support that these vulnerable families can access, which is very concerning.

The Podrska Foundation is a grass-roots organisation run by Dash Meizler that advocates for human and non-human lives in Uganda. Since 2018 it has been delivering support to the most vulnerable families in the Kosovo and Kiwunya slums of Kampala (Uganda).

I, Arvind Thomas, have started this urgent fundraiser to enable Dash and the Podrska volunteers to deliver aid to a total of 200 of the most vulnerable children and adults (who either have severe HIV issues or are very elderly). The approximate cost of food alone per person per week is $6.
Reaching the campaign's goal will enable Podrska to supply the families with emergency care packages containing essentials detailed in the itemized description and photos below. The care package will include science-based information on plant-based nutrition and the most effective ways of avoiding contracting or spreading the virus. Plant-based food for the whole family and supplies such as soap and portable washing stands will be provided. Please join me in helping Dash and his volunteers at Podrska support the most needy during these difficult times. And, please note that I will make sure that the Podrska Foundation uploads updates on expenses onto its website to indicate where your money was spent.

Thank you in advance for your support and feel free to contact me, if you have any questions ([email redacted]).
Arvind Thomas (Assistant-Professor of English, Dept of English, UCLA, Los Angeles)

Below is a personal appeal from Podrska's Founder, Dash Meizler:

"Hey guys, first and foremost I want to appreciate all the moral support that has been coming in from day one, as its been a great motivation for me. We all know that we are in trying times: many have lost jobs and lives. This situation has greatly affected the lives of people especially in my locality. Despite all this taking place we are still fighting as we are driven by hope. We are following government guidelines such as social distancing and staying at home, but what's the benefit of staying at home to our health if hunger is every where? It is to address this hunger and the attendant health crisis that I humbly request your generous financial support .
95% of all my activism has been self funded and I am at a point where I can't stretch this anymore. We have designed this emergency support program to run for 2 weeks to help in feeding the most vulnerable families (strictly vegan) and providing other cruelty-free things regarding hygiene. Every single penny will be accounted for as it counts. However this doesn't mean that we shall stop the vegan feeding program in the two weeks so future donations and support are welcome. Please feel free to look at the website and support any of my programs if you wish.

Thank you and if you are unable to donate, then we would appreciate if you can share this campaign.
For Podrska on facebook, see: https://www.facebook.com/Podrska-Foundation-346437262858694/
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