COVID-19 Pandemic Response
In addition to the existing struggles that many families and communities already face, the spread of COVID-19 has proved an unforeseen force to the underprivileged community in Bangladesh. Many families have lost their income, and as such, the futures of these families are grim. Several communities and schools have not received the support they needed from the government or other organizations. Agami New Jersey and New York foresaw these dangers, so a task force formed across all branches of Agami within days. This team set a plan in motion in the middle of March 2020 to send supplies amidst the lockdown to schools in even the most remote parts of the country utilizing diverted funds from existing programs to allow for an urgent response. The first truck with supplies hit the road on March 28th, 2020.
As of this article’s publication, updated on May 25th, 2020, world wide the total fund has reached $85K and has sent a response to over 3340 families impacting over 16000 individuals with provisions for over 1,000,000 meals thus far. This response includes distributing Agami survival packs to students which each includes essentials such as rice, lentils, onions, potatoes, salt, oil, and hygienic products like bars of soap which can support a family of 4 for a month. Furthermore, the Shin Shin Group donated 5000 masks to Agami, and Agami volunteers have been actively distributing them across schools plus providing basic training programs on using these masks and washing hands. A 24x7 hotline has been established to get medical consultation from a physician. Also, New Jersey-based groups like Bangladesh Food Bank, BUET 87, and BSNJ came forward to support Agami. Not only that special thanks go to New Jersey-based Axiom Healthcare strategies, and New York-based Firstlight Cloud Xchange for their generous support.
Publications in Bangladesh have already taken note of Agami’s impact and have posted articles online which you can find here: The Daily Star, DhakaTribune
The campaign is alive and active with the goal to continue to support 3000 families amidst the lockdown and to keep the children engaged in education. If you wish to learn more and see how you can support the cause, please consider donating to the GoFundMe page.