Coronavirus lockdown: Restaurateur Jasper Reid and colleague Mukesh are helping migrants
Contract workers have had to face the brunt of the coronavirus lockdown with industries closing and contractors abandoning them. And while the food and beverage industry is one such sector severely impacted, a restaurateur, a British national living in Delhi whose own business was affected turned this into an opportunity and has raised close to Rs 2 crore from across the world to help those in dire need of help in India.
Restaurateur Jasper Reid and his colleague Mukesh found out that 30 contract labourers in a building construction site at a posh Delhi locality were stuck due to the lockdown.
The two reached out to them and within an hour helped them with food supplies for the next few days.
What started with helping only 30 people in the first week of the lockdown is now a full-fledged mission that helped 6,000 families across the national capital. NDTV cameraperson Rupen Raj took photos of their work.
The initiative has turned into a full-fledged mission that helped 6,000 families across the national capital
These restaurateurs turned this crisis into an opportunity to make sure nobody slept hungry and thus started supplying food and other essentials as part of relief work.
While the team is helping people with food and dry ration, they have now taken their mission to the next step by collaborating with the government of Haryana to provide buses to migrant workers walking back home.
The "One Family" initiative believes that while business is important, it is far more important to help those in need especially in times of crisis.
They are now helping high-risk groups from rickshaw-pullers, auto drivers, domestic help, daily labourers, homeless people and people staying in shelter homes using their restaurant's staff and infrastructure.