This year, you helped 1,000 children from farming families in Maharashtra’s hinterlands receive school kits; ensured 6,000 labourers in Mirzapur got a pair of slippers, and brought joy to hundreds of children by giving their school a new roof. Yes, you did it!
With impact at the heart of every endeavour at The Better India, we’ve spent the last year spreading smiles across communities in India. And it wouldn’t have been possible without your support in cash and kind. Here’s looking back at the year that was:
1. #GiftASchoolKit: Changing children’s futures in Maharashtra
The Shivprabha Charitable Trust was established in 2007 with the intent of bringing educational, health, environmental and economic equity to farming communities in rural India. To support their ‘education’ arm, The Better India ran a Republic Day campaign that aimed to raise Rs 5,00,000.
The funds were channelled towards helping 1,000 underprivileged children in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal and Chandrapur districts get school kits, each comprising a school bag, notebooks, a drawing book, wax crayons, a slate, a pencil box, and a pouch that included stationery.
2. #DonateASlipper: Helping labourers in Mirzapur brave the scorching heat
In a centre in Uttar Pradesh, a group of women hailing from the nearby villages are hard at work. They call themselves ‘Green Army’ — a group intent on bringing change to the state. As temperatures during the summer season soared to an unbearable high, the Green Army busied themselves by making slippers to distribute to the daily wage labourers working in the forests.
The Better India’s campaign managed to raise Rs Rs 5,08,359, thus helping 6,000 labourers get the slippers they so desperately needed.
3. #DonateARoof: Giving wings to children’s dreams
At a small study centre in Varanasi, a cancer survivor, Shyam Shrivastav (65) is helping children from underserved communities in the region channel their inner potential. Here, 200 children are under Shrivastav’s tutelage. However, on most days, the centre would remain shut owing to heavy rains and scorching heat. The centre lacked a roof.
The Better India stepped in with a campaign, which raised Rs 4,82,950 through collective support. The funds went towards building the roof of Shrivastav’s centre, thus ensuring that the heat and rain no longer hinder children’s classes.
4. #DonateAnUmbrella: A step towards helping street vendors
The Better India partnered with ‘Warriors Without a Cause’ — an NGO founded by four young friends from Delhi who have, since the COVID-19 pandemic, been directing their efforts towards social causes across Delhi NCR, Noida, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Chandigarh.
The campaign ensured that, through the Rs 3,54,118 raised, 1,000 street vendors were given a token of kindness in the form of umbrellas to shield them from the scorching sun, allowing them to continue running their businesses.
5. Rebuilding Dhanam Paati’s mud home
If you ever visit Pudukkottai in Tamil Nadu, you’ll hear from the locals about an idli ‘shop’ that you must visit. Everyone swears by it. Run by 84-year-old Dhanam Paati, the idli business is her humble endeavour to earn for herself and her family. However, Paati (‘grandmother’ in Tamil) was finding it tough to continue, as the mud home in which she lived was on the verge of crumbling. Held together by tarpaulin sheets and a thatched roof, the home wasn’t conducive to continuing the business.
When The Better India wrote about Paati and the passion that goes into the idli-making process, love started pouring in in the form of donations, and soon, her son shared that they had received Rs 1,00,000. The family intended to use the funds to renovate the home.
6. #BlueToGreen: How denims can be repurposed
Started in 2022 by Nirvaan Somany, ‘Project Jeans — Blue To Green’ has distributed over 2,000 sleeping bags across Delhi-NCR, Himachal, Bengaluru, Pune, and even Turkey and Syria by recycling over 12,000 jeans in the past two years. The Better India saw potential in the idea and stepped in to scale it. Through our campaign, we were successful in raising Rs 1,06,494, which went towards the upcycling of jeans into sleeping bags.
This had a dual vantage — the sleeping bags were distributed among the homeless, while also saving 70,000 litres of water for every bag made. In addition to this, the women — including wives of tailors from Shivani’s unit and others from Rajokri village in New Delhi — employed by Project Jeans were helped to earn through the upcycling.
7. Providing a home for the abandoned
The Better India stepped in to help Nakshatra, a trans woman who runs ‘Nammane Summane’, a shelter in Bengaluru for people with disabilities, elderly individuals, and orphans abandoned by their families. The Rs 1,02,375 raised through the campaign was channelled towards the ration and grocery needs of the residents of the centre.
“We were able to satisfy the food requirements for two meals a day for 150 people for a month,” Nakshatra shared when we reached out to her.
8. #VolunteerForSeniors
We decided to do an interesting take on the meaning of love last Valentine’s Day. We reached out to the senior citizens of the community, providing them with care and companionship by partnering with Maya Care Foundation, rallying volunteers across six metro cities — Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Jaipur, and Kolkata.
We asked volunteers to give their time to provide care, companionship, and assistance to senior citizens, helping them feel loved, valued, and respected.
9. #HelpThemBack
The campaign goal was to thank the silent support system in every home — the domestic workers. As the backbone of our cities and homes, their role often goes unnoticed. Through #HelpThemBack, we asked our readers to guide these incredible individuals toward digital and financial literacy, from accessing banking services to benefitting from welfare schemes.
10. #DonateABlanket
Gurugram-native Sajan Veerr Abrol, founder of Clothes Box Foundation, had the ingenious idea a few years ago of turning old clothes into blankets that could then be distributed to the homeless in Delhi. Through the campaign, we were able to raise Rs 5,76,900, helping 1,400 homeless people in Delhi, Gurugram, Haryana, Jaipur, and other cities of India. In addition to this, the women involved in the upcycling of the blankets also received a commission for their work.
11. #BetterIndiaForWomen
This Navratri and Durga Pujo, festivals that honour the feminine, we called upon the collective conscience of India to not just celebrate but to act towards building a #BetterIndiaForWomen. From safety to education, we tackled the nine most critical issues impacting women in India. With your support, our voices echoed louder than ever.
As we bid farewell to this year, we thank YOU for your unwavering support.
Here’s to 2025, a year of even greater hope, action, and impact.
Let’s keep building a #BetterIndia together.
Edited by Khushi Arora
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