Please Donate to India for their Current Covid Crisis

India is currently facing its most devastating moments to date with a brutal second wave of Covid. Many have asked how to help India during this crisis the whole country is currently facing. We have compiled a list of legitimate sites to donate to. If you have the means to give anything big or small, it will help. 

The country is being ravaged with the harshest wave of Covid yet. Families cannot get oxygen for loved ones and empty hospital beds simply don't exist. The lack of vaccines and proper treatment is devastating. Families are hopeless, when they take a loved one in urgent need of treatment to the hospital, they are turned away. There is no room. 

We have so many close friends in this beautiful country and this country is the whole reason our store exists and we do what we do. They have given so much to our country in ways of spiritual food that it cannot even be measured. 

We have many artisan craftsman in India who provide us with our beautiful products such as murtis, crystals, incense, meditation supplies and all of our Fair Trade clothing and shawls. We have been checking in with most of them weekly and some daily. We are grateful to report everyone is doing ok but still low in spirits and in definite need of help. Most of their production processes are halted and they depend on our business to support their families and communities. It has been very, very difficult for them. 

If you have the means and can give even a few dollars during this crisis, it will go a long way. We have complied a list of charities and organizations who are actively helping in the crisis so that you can have a variety of options for donating. Please select one at your earliest convenience and give in any way that you can. 

Our Personal Recommendations:

Oxygen for India - Let's do this together! 

I have personally reached out to the doctor in charge of this. Here are a few personal notes from him:

This is a gofundme campaign specifically to get more oxygen to India:

https://gofund.me/4d4f9520

Belur Math: One that we regularly donate to personally and on behalf of The Deva Shop is the Ramakrishna Math and Mission at Belur Math. The link we will provide does not specifically say covid relief but there is a general fund to donate to and rest assured it will be used without a doubt for relief work going on. You can send them an email as well that you want your donation to specifically go to Covid. They are one of the most trusted organizations in India and conduct tons of relief work day after day for over 100 years. Founded by Swami Vivekananda himself:

https://donations.belurmath.org/product/donations-ramakrishna-mission-belur-math-donors-outside-india-usd?currency=USD

They also recently added a plea for Covid relief. We have attached the picture below. You can donate to this via bank transfer. They are setting up a covid relief camp and need support.

We personally use https://wise.com/us to transfer money.

Invisible Girl Project: We donate to them on behalf of The Deva Shop and have followed their great work. They are based in the USA and have been helping unwanted girls in India find foster homes. They are currently doing relief work for Covid to help feed these girls and their families:

https://invisiblegirlproject.givecloud.co/urgent-covid-response

Global India Fund based in Virginia:

Global India Fund (GIF) was founded in 2007 to give people around the world an opportunity to make a difference in India. The idea to develop the Global India Fund evolved in March 2007, as GIF founder Dr. Amita Vyas joined Ashley Judd, Kate Roberts, and YouthAIDS to India. YouthAIDS, an education and prevention initiative of PSI, undertook this Journey of Hope to visit its HIV/AIDS prevention programs in Mumbai, and to film a documentary about the calamitous health situation in India in collaboration with the National Geographic Channel.

https://globalindiafund.org/

Recommendations from the New York Times:

Groups in India

• The Indian Red Cross Society has staff and volunteers running blood drives, delivering aid and medical supplies, along with providing other essential services across the country.

• Youth Feed India and Helping Hands Charitable Trust are delivering ration kits to vulnerable residents of Mumbai. Each kit includes staples like rice and dal, and feeds a family of four for 15 days. Donate here in a variety of ways, including through Google Pay.

• Ketto, a fund-raising platform in Mumbai, a hot spot of the country’s latest Covid outbreak, is shepherding a campaign by hundreds of entrepreneurs to purchase 3,000 oxygen concentrators. (The organizers are tweeting live updates.)

• FromU2Them, a Mumbai nonprofit, is raising money on Ketto from individuals and Indian businesses to pay for food and medical supplies in the sprawling financial hub.