WZO Trusts – Covid Relief And Rehabilitation

Community members are aware that WZO Trusts have undertaken a massive programme to support poor Zoroastrians affected financially due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The following areas have been identified in which to extend support.

1 Arranging food grains packages for Zoroastrians in cities, towns and villages who have suffered economic hardships
2 Financial difficulties being faced by families of white and blue collar workers having received only half their regular salaries and in many cases no salaries
3 Financial difficulties being faced by individuals involved in modest Self Employment initiatives such as driving autorickshaws, commercial taxi’s, auto mechanics, stationery shops etc who have been unable to go about their professions.
4 Full time Mobeds who are not employed by Agiyaries but are daily wage earners many of whom presently have no income.
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  1. Supporting agriculturists who have been unable to harvest their standing crops that have decayed on account of non availability of labour force.
  2. Dairy Farmers having suffered financial setbacks as milk collected from their livestock’s being unable to reach the processing dairies; difficulty in obtaining feed for their cattle.
  3. Poultry farming having come to a standstill as it has not been possible to transport the fully grown fowls to processing units.
  4. Brick kilns are an industry having a short 7 month window (December to June); Zoroastrian beneficiaries who have established kilns in their villages have suffered severe financial setback as the migrant labourers have left for their native places leaving half baked and unbaked bricks causing immense hardships.  

Applications from poor Zoroastrians affected financially by the Pandemic will continue to be received till May 24, 2020. These may be sent to all the four E-mails: wzotrustscovid19@gmail.com   /   admin@wzotrust.com     /    trustees@wzotrust.com     /     dinshawtamboly@gmail.com

 

The request circulated to donors worldwide for funds to undertake such a massive project was met with alacrity and generosity. Principal donors so far have been Mrs. Pervin & Mr. Jal Shroff of Hong Kong, The Trustees of Zoroastrian Charity Funds of Hong Kong Canton & Macao and Trustees, Trustees of Bai Maneckbai P. B. Jeejeebhoy Deed of Settlement Funds, Mumbai. Donations, big and small continue to be received from individuals.

The massive programme to distribute food grains, utility items & cash for extending support to poor Zoroastrians residing in villages and towns who have been financially affected due to the Covid-19 Pandemic has begun. 

The first such distribution was undertaken in Mandvi & Mangrol areas on May 6 & 7. The second round of distribution was done at Vansda & Ahwas Talukas on May 8 & 9. Similar distributions in and around Surat, Navsari, Vyara, Ankleshwar & Bharuch, villages in Dharampur Taluka, Jawahar & Dahanu in Palghar Taluka, Karchond & other places in Union Territory of Dadra & Nagar Haveli are all in the pipeline and will be completed within the next few days. Beneficiaries in and around Ahmedabad will be catered to once the one week absolute lockdown announced from May 07 onwards has been lifted. Around 500 Zoroastrian families are expected to benefit from food grains and utility articles to be distributed.

The items being distributed to each family are:

1. 5 Ltr. Edible oil 2. 1 Kg Vegetable Ghee
3. 5 Kg  Wheat Flour 4. 4 Kg Rice
5. 2 Kg Tuvar Dal 6. 500 Gram Masoor (Lentil)
7. 500 Gram Moong Dal 8. 500 Gram Chana Dal
9. 500 Gram Chhole Chana 10. 500 Gram Chora (Black eye peas)
11. 500 Gram Besan (gram flour) 12. 500 Gram Ravo
13. 500 Gram Poha (Pauvaa) 14. 2 Kg Sugar
15. 2 Kg Sugar 16. 1  Kg Salt
17. 200 Gram Chili Powder 18. 100 Gram Garam Masala
19. 100 Gram Turmeric Powder 20. 200 Gram Toothpaste (Tube)
21. 4 cakes of bath soaps 22. 3 bars dish washing soap
23. 3 cakes of detergent soaps 24. 1 Kg. Detergent Powder
25. Rs.2,000 cash for purchase of vegetables and other utility items as required.

The food grains distributed are sufficient to last a family of four individuals for just over a month. Should it be assessed, at a later date to be necessary, another round of similar supplies will be distributed. The names of beneficiary families are being furnished by the local Zoroastrian Anjumans and resource persons who have volunteered to extend support in the areas in which they are located.

We express our sincere gratitude to our principal donors Zoroastrian Charity Funds of Hong Kong, Canton & Macao for the financial support extended to WZO Trusts to enable this massive distribution of food grains to be undertaken. 

Our equally sincere gratitude to Mr. Darayes Gandhi, Trustee of Mandvi – Mangrol Anjuman, Mr. Darayus Mirza, Trustee of Vansda Anjuman, Mr. Sam Chothia, Trustee of Valsad Anjuman, Mrs. Shirin Kanga & Brig. Jehangir Anklesaria, Trustees of Ahmedabad Parsi Panchayat, Mrs. Maharukh Chichgar & Mr. Fredy Mistry of Surat, Mr. Viraf Deboo of Pune, Mrs. Kamal Kavina of Ankleshwar, Mr. Jehangir Bisney of Hyderabad, Dr. Shernaz Cama & Dr. Niloufer Shroff of Delhi, Team WZO Trusts at Navsari – Aspi Ambapardiwala, Cyrus Vandrivala, Rohinton Contractor, Sharmin Tamboly, Team WZO Trusts at Mumbai – Farzana Mojgani, Freyaz Shroff, Homiyar Madan, Yazdi Randelia, Cyrus Vankadia, Hoshedar Parakh, Team Empowering Mobeds – Binaifer Sahukar, Er. Hormuz Dadachanji, Er. Meher Modi.

They have all been extending full cooperation, working extremely hard with commitment and dedication, in receiving, collating and carrying out due diligence on requests received from their areas of Zoroastrians who have been financially affected by the Pandemic.  

We look forward to continued support from community members in the days and months to come.

About By Dinshaw K. Tamboly, Chairman – The WZO Trusts

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