CCS volunteers reach out to people amid Covid-19 crisis

The whole world is at war with Covid-19 now. Bangladesh is also in the battlefield. Staying at home and maintaining physical distance is the strategy to win this war. 
 
Every country in the world is applying the same strategy to fight the virus, which is causing hardship for people of different classes in Bangladesh. 

Several crores of daily wage earners are in extreme crisis, while the students from poor families and part-time job holders are also passing a tough time. 
 
Conscious Consumers Society (CCS), a consumer rights organisation, and its youth wing Consumer Youth Bangladesh (CYB) are working on five initiatives to stand by these affected people. 
 
The organisations' activities are volunteering, providing food assistance, distributing iftar, sending gifts, and supporting students with scholarships. 

The team of volunteers was formed in the last week of March this year. It has 11,000 members now. 

A Facebook group named "Volunteers in Corona" is active now and its members are working in 55 districts across the country. 

The main activity of this team is to assist and coordinate with the local administration voluntarily.
 
They are also providing food assistance and distributing iftar among people. 
 
Around 7,000 families have got food for one week and 500 families got iftar during this Ramadan from the volunteers. 
 
On the other hand, CYB is helping the poor students.
 
Students who have been fending for themselves doing private tutoring and part-time jobs are in great problem due to the novel coronavirus crisis.

The CYB has assisted around 200 such students in seven higher educational institutions under the "gift in corona" programme. 
 
Besides, Islamic University (Kushtia) CCS and Iuan, a platform of the former students of Islamic University, have jointly taken an initiative to give Tk2,000 to a number of students each for at least three months from May this year.
  
"CCS does not have its own fund. We are working with donations from people and different commercial organisations such as e-valy, brandbuy.xyz, and Bangladesh Migrant Welfare Society. Even the volunteers are helping people by collecting donations locally," Palash Mahmud, executive director of CCS, explains how the organization functions. 
 
"Anyone can help through the bKash and Nagad (merchant) number of CCS, which is 01977453653. Its rocket (merchant) account number is 2776," he added.    

Around 30 doctors and 184 electrical engineers have also joined the initiatives of the volunteers.

The doctors are giving suggestions and treating patients through mobile phone and video calls.

Kazi Johirul Islam, central coordinator of Volunteers in Corona, said, "We are also helping the farmers by cutting paddy for them."