The situation surrounding Covid 19 in India is exploding.
The health, social, & economical impacts are unprecedented. Kindred Apparel has set up this link to collect non tax receipt-able funds to send onward to the team at JOYYA (previously named Freeset).
JOYYA is working hard to supply food, wages & health equipment to their team and broader community. We will be updating this page with more specific info as we receive it from our team locally in Kolkata.
Kindred’s mandate for years has been that
our name is the perfect word for what we do.
noun: kindred
- one's family and relations.
adjective: kindred
It reminds us that every action affects those we share this planet with, and it encourages us to pursue social mindfulness and environmental sustainability. Most of you have chosen Kindred because of our long standing relationship with the people of JOYYA. Now more than ever, the community at JOYYA needs us.
If you want to help,
we would be beyond grateful.
Your positive thoughts & your words of encouragement are welcomed as well. We invite you to reply with any messages for the staff at JOYYA via the email team@kindredapparel.com which we will be passing on to the team daily
Sincerely,
Alexandra Bouchard
President
Kindred Apparel Inc.
UPDATE 1: JOYYA will be going into full lock down - effective May 16-30th, and are committed to paying their staff 100% of their salary during this 2 week lockdown period. Where possible staff are working remotely. We are still accepting inquiries for orders, however we ask clients to be understanding that delivery dates can not be guaranteed at this time.
UPDATE 2: JOYYA will be staying in lock down for an additional 2 more weeks from May 31 - June 13th. We need your help now more than ever as our team work to support our staff and greater community through 4 weeks of shutdowns.
UPDATE 3: JOYYA has provided perspective of just how far each one of your Canadian Dollars can journey. JOYYA has committed to provide full wages to staff throughout lockdown, while also providing food, medical support and working to improve access to education for the children in our communities. Some of these figures may surprise you - Even small contributions are felt in a very large way.
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PROTECT |$18 could provide reusable cotton face masks with soap and sanitizer. This includes making and distributing masks to households. We aim to give two masks to each person so they can wash one and wear one. In crowded slum communities this protection is so important. |
PAY | $360 could pay one of our seamstress’s wages for a month while she can’t work because of covid restrictions. West Bengal has been in full lockdown since May 17th. Continuing to pay our staff full wages during this time means they can support their families and neighbors and their small purchases help to support the wider community. |
| PROVIDE | $55 could provide enough food to feed a household for a month. The food parcels include items such as rice, dhal, flour, mustard oil, spices, noodles, soybeans, chickpeas, potatoes and other vegetables. With so many people in our community without work right now these food parcels are the only thing keeping some families afloat. |
TREAT | $1650 can purchase an oxygen concentrator for those unable to get to a hospital. Oxygen is crucial and in short supply, for those that are unable to get to a hospital due to travel or expense, an oxygen concentrator could save their life. |
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EDUCATE | $215
could provide learning materials such as workbooks, stationery and access to online teaching devices for children who can’t attend school right now.
Providing devices for online learning is a delicate one, but if we don’t want these kids to fall even further behind we think this is the best option. We will work closely with the community to make this as effective and fair as possible. We will also be providing traditional workbooks and stationery to make sure they can extend their online learning.
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SUPPORT | $2600 could help to cover the medical expenses of someone in our community who requires hospitalization and critical care because of Covid. Obviously medical expenses vary hugely from individual to individual, but we want to help provide for this massive need right now. For some people, full hospitalization has been, and will continue to be a lifesaving last resort. |
UPDATE 4: Your donations are making a real difference. Thank you to everyone who has contributed thus far. As a result of your contributions JOYYA has been able to hand out over 16 tons of food that will be delivered to their surrounding communities, as well all staff continued to receive their wages throughout the lockdown period. All great news! Please keep your contributions coming, there is a lot of ground to catch up on in the community and every little bit counts. Thank you!
UPDATE 5: We are back to work! Slowly but surely and with a list of hurdles still. JOYYA has been permitted to resume work at 50% occupancy - however transportation is very limited and curfew are still in effect. Things are still a struggle and it is even hard to reach the 50% allowed capacity with all of this. On the positive side, orders are churning and we are working hard to catch up. New orders are already shipping into August, so reach out asap with your needs!