Grundfos Foundation to support frontline workers and underprivileged families during the COVID-19 pandemic

Chennai: Given that in India, vulnerable population groups are at risk because of various lockdown measures, three projects in India have received funding via the Grundfos Foundation’s new Community Engagement Grant.

Two of the grants went to Hand in Hand India, an NGO that has been working with Grundfos India on hygiene and water conservation projects. The first grant is helping ‘Green Friends’, a group of 1350 sanitation workers from highly underprivileged backgrounds, who collect household wastes from peri-urban localities in Chennai and Rameswaram (both declared as Red Zones for COVID-19) in the state of Tamil Nadu. To support them in this crisis, the grant is providing safety gear that will protect them from any COVID-19 contaminated waste they might be cleaning.

The second grant is supporting 500 health service front line workers and 400 police in Chennai, Chengalpattu and Kancheepuram districts with essential personal protective equipment and other safety gear to protect them from infection. Given the shortage of these safety equipment – it is even more necessary to ensure they receive a good supply to protect the medical staff that tend to the patients and the police officers who are deployed to protect the supply lines and keeping public order during the pandemic.

The third grant will support 115 families of students studying at the PUPS, Karapakkam School, Chennai. This is a school that Grundfos India has been associated with for the last two years through NalandaWay Foundation’s programme. Due to the lockdown, the parents are out of jobs and are struggling to source essential commodities needed for preparing even two meals a day at home. These kits we provided will help more than 600 people for a month.

Kim Nøhr Skibsted, Executive Director, Grundfos Foundation, said, “The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic is causing a humanitarian crisis globally. We are indebted to frontline workers who have been braving the situation to protect the society at large. The Foundation will be working with the Grundfos India team and respective NGOs to execute these three key initiatives.”

A few Grundfos India employees along with representatives from the respective NGOs were involved in the distribution of these PPE and food kits, all while ensuring social distancing guidelines.