For Naveen and Bharath, coming to Pudiyador meant access to nutritious food. For their parents, it meant the ability to search for work while their children were safe. This was their story for four years.

Four years later, the family moved houses and had no mobile phone. We had lost contact with their family. However, when the pandemic hit, we knew that they would be in trouble. One of our staff members reached out to another parent who lived near the boys' house. We asked the boys' mother to visit us. When she did, her story confirmed our hunch - they were short of food.

As a domestic help, her income was at risk. Without a ration card in the family, she had been forced to borrow supplies from neighbours to provide food for her family. It was not a sustainable solution.

Pudiyador's relief team was able to help. We provided her a ration kit that included seven kilos of rice, one kilo of dal, half kilo each of onion and potato, one packet oil, one kilo sugar and one kilo atta, as well as a pack of sanitary napkins. Getting emotional as she picked up the supplies, she later called us from home. "I've cooked with the supplies," she said. "For the first time in a long time, my boys ate to their heart's content."

Anitha, a student of our Youth Advancement Program, is a quiet young girl. The daughter of a tailor and a helper at a restaurant, her family's income was seriously affected during the lockdown. Her family also does not have a ration card. Yet, when we reached out to ask her how she was dealing with everything, she had only complaints of one thing - boredom! She told us she was playing with the young kids around her house to keep herself busy and teaching them various games to kill time. The Pudiyador team had to prod her with specific questions to get to the heart of the matter.

With no means of money or goods, her family was struggling to keep afloat during the lockdown. Anitha was struggling with a lot more than just boredom. The day after we spoke to Anitha, we made sure the family received provisions. Later on, when Pudiyador rolled out larger scale relief operations, Anitha was one of our points of contact. Through Anitha's flourishing social circles, she knew all the mothers we were not able to reach!

When Udaya Kumar's father died, he left behind a distraught wife and a large loan. Vennila did what she could, working as a house maid while she stayed with her in-laws. When the lockdown was announced, she did not know if she'd get her salary, and if so, when.

In the meantime, her bright young son Udaya Kumar had just joined Pudiyador's Youth Advancement Program. Without in-person sessions or his phone number, we quickly realized we could not reach him. When his mother reached out to us through a relative, we made sure she received our relief kit.

In a spontaneous show of generosity and gratitude, she pledged her time and support to Pudiyador, offering to chaperone the children on trips or cook healthy treats for them. She even said she would move around work timings to make it happen. When our team distributed our second round of relief, she volunteered to assist with the delivery. She had received help from Pudiyador and was eager to give back. Vennila's generosity lies at the very core of the ethos we are seeking to nurture in our communities.

Rahim was in fifth standard when he approached us to be a part of our Early Teens' Program. A little too young for the already full cohort, his perseverance is what won us over. Today, he is one of the oldest in the group but is always eager to learn. He even approached our coordinator on his own accord, suggesting something should be done about substance abuse by youth in his community and was all set to give a presentation on environmental concerns at a Teach for India event. That is when the lockdown began.

The lockdown badly affected Rahim's family. Without a ration card or regular income, supplies became scarce. In a few days, all that his family had was water and salt. It was Rahim who asked his worried parents to reach out to his teacher at Pudiyador. He was sure that the organization would help them.

As a testament to the faith that Rahim had on us, we were able to procure rations for the family even before rolling out our other relief efforts. It is this trust and confidence of children, much like Rahim, that reaffirms the importance we place on forging relationships and building bonds with our children and communities.

Muthulakshmi was one of the mothers in our Cradle program for pregnant women and new mothers. Even during her pregnancy, she was one of women who struggled. A high-risk pregnancy meant she could not complete our ten-week workshop, with doctors prescribing her rest. She finally gave birth a week before the lockdown began. We heard the news only a few weeks later, when the baby was two weeks old. While we celebrated the news, we were also told that Muthulakshmi's struggles were not yet done. Thanks to insufficient nutrition, she was not able to produce milk.

Her wellbeing was essential to the health of her baby, there was no question about that. Our team swung into action immediately. The very next day, we sent Muthulakshmi high-protein foods like channa and eggs as well as staples like rice. Apart from this, she received our relief kit along with the additions prescribed for our Cradle program mothers - green gram and ghee. Today, both the mother and child are doing much better, and we at Pudiyador can celebrate the good news!

Dinesh and Suresh are brothers who regularly attended our Ramapuram centre, until a year ago, when they had to move homes. Unfortunately, they lived too far away to continue attending our after-school programs, but they remained eager to attend our community events and gatherings whenever possible. Currently, their mother works at a nearby hospital and their father is not steadily employed. Even before the lockdown, their family would get by on very basic food and supplies. So after lockdown, when movement within the city was forbidden and their mother’s work came to a halt, their family was in a very tough situation. When our teachers called their family, they realised that Dinesh and Suresh had gone to a relative’s house outside of the city, but the three remaining family members were struggling to make ends meet. When they received provision kits (from Pudiyador), they were very grateful to get a variety of nutritious staples, but also touched that their family was remembered, reached out to and included in Pudiyador’s relief efforts.

Siblings and all alumni of Pudiyador, Robika, Jothika and Kishore have all supported different programs at Pudiyador over the years. Robika and Jothika are two bright and energetic young women, who are part-time teachers at our Ramapuram centre, as well as undergraduate students. Their younger brother Kishore, is extremely reliable and we can always count on him to support us in any of our community events. Equally, their mother is one of our main points of contact for the women’s empowerment and skill training program in Ramapuram. In the past, she has independently arranged a space for the weekly tailoring skill sessions for community women.

With no surprise, the entire family stepped to the occasion during lockdown and have been key players in Pudiyador’s distribution of provision kits. The three women of this household were in charge of calling families and distributing kits, while Kishore helped in the process of unloading kits. Their father even chipped in and volunteered to help identify needy families, excluding Pudiyador beneficiaries, when we decided to extend our support to reach more families within the community.

In the communities that Pudiyador work with, girls’ education itself is something that cannot be taken for granted. In such contexts, it is wonderful to see this family fully supporting their young daughters not only to study, but to teach others, and encouraging them to step up to support and grow their community. Robika and Jothika are great role models for young girls in their community.

Alumnus of Pudiyador, Rathna is currently a part-time teacher at Pudiyador. When she is not teaching at Pudiyador, she can be found at college, studying to become a nurse. Rathna excelled at school, but it is her determination that has gotten her to where she is today. Rathna is very self-motivated and does not let societal expectations limit her dreams. Rathna attributes much of her success to Pudiyador, and she has voiced on multiple occasions her strong sense of responsibility to give back to her community (through teaching at Pudiyador).

During the nationwide lockdown, Rathna’s house has been used as one of our centres for distributing ration kits to the Ramapuram community. Her family was extremely supportive and helpful in the distribution process. During one round of distributions, the process of distribution got delayed, and her family, without hesitation, took turns all night keeping guard of the provision kits against rats. We were very grateful that her family recognized the need and stepped to the plate to ensure that pesty rats would not damage the food rations. Equally, with her training as nurse, Rathna ensured that a system was in place to ensure medical safety during distribution - sanitizing the kits, and making all those who entered, sanitise their hands. When corporation officials came to check if we were following regulations, she confidently listed the safety measures that were being followed, impressing the officials and us. We are very proud of Rathna and all that she has achieved thus far. There is no doubt in our minds, that Rathna will make an excellent nurse one day!

On any provision distribution day, if you would have walked into our Urur Kuppam centre, you would have seen these two young men, 17 year old Gowtham and 20 year old Anish, at the helm of things. Gowtham is an alumnus of Pudiyador and a dreamer; with aspirations to be a professional photographer. Anish is a local resident and avid Ultimate Frisbee player. Both young gentlemen are responsible community members, indeed, one might even say, young leaders! They have been present at every initiative that helped their community - distributing food packets to children, distributing provision kits to Pudiyador families, and they even agreed to conduct a survey to assess the needs of their community.

Without hesitation, whenever we approach these young men for help, they readily agree, and always comment ‘yes, you can always count us in for any help.’ When positive cases were found in Urur Kuppam, many members were scared of any external social contact, but these young men did not have a second thought before offering their help to Pudiyador. With each distribution, they responded to the need of the hour. In our most recent distribution, they helped distribute sanitary napkin packs to each kit, an act of such is something that not every young man in their community would be comfortable doing. We are eager to see how the leadership and initiative in these young men grows in the years to come.

Viji is the leading player to all relief initiatives and distributions that have taken place in Kakkan Colony, one of our Pudiyador communities. Viji was introduced to Pudiyador recently, as her daughter is part of the Children’s Program, and Viji and her son are part of the Cradle Program for infants and new mothers. Shortly after the 10 week program ended, Viji heard that we (at Pudiyador) were looking for a staff member to help support our program coordinator. She eagerly applied for the position, and was hired as our first Cradle staff member in the same community, Kakkan Colony. It is in this capacity that she began to help us with contacting and distributing provision kits to Cradle mothers in Kakkan Colony. She let us use her print shop space as a distribution location. She has experience as a volunteer during times of disaster, as she had been a volunteer during the Chennai floods in 2016. Naturally, she took on the role as the key coordinator of distributions within her community. Initially, her in-laws were apprehensive about her taking on part-time work, with a young child and her household to take care of. However, presently, it is Viji, her husband and his friends whom we rely on to unload the provision kits within this community. With their vast network, Viji and her husband have helped Pudiyador contact and compile a complete list of needy families (excluding existing Pudiyador beneficiaries) within their community. Thanks to her networking, organization and coordination, Viji has single handedly helped Pudiyador extend our support to an additional 50 families.

Mahalakshmi is a ‘Cradle mother’ i.e. a beneficiary of our program for new and expectant mothers in one of our communities, Kakkan colony. At each session, she was eager to learn; whenever it was announced that a new resource person would be coming, she would try to read up a little bit of information before attending the session so that she could ask relevant and informed questions. So naturally, during the lockdown, when we had to reach out for some information about what was going on, we knew we could always rely on her. But the real surprise came when our program coordinator saw a donation of Rs.1000 to our covid relief efforts, along with a message from Mahalakshmi. She said that she wanted to contribute what she could to a group that could be trusted, and what better way to do so than supporting Pudiyador and helping her own community. We were very touched by the magnanimity of this beneficiary, who turned donor when she decided she would do whatever she could to support those around her in these difficult times.

Prem is a resident of Urur Kuppam, and our curriculum developer and teacher trainer for Maths and Science at Pudiyador. From the initial days of the pandemic, he was on the lookout for his community. Shortly after the lockdown was imposed, he realised that some members of his community were unable to see the gravity of the situation and were gathering in groups. With the health and safety of his community in mind, he spoke to the police about how to better implement safety measures. In the following days, change was seen in his community and the majority of members took more initiative to follow safety protocols.

Prem is our contact person for all our field activities in the Besant Nagar zone - from helping unload provision kits, overlooking distributions, gathering extra kits and distributing them at a later date, coordinating with volunteers and even government officials who came to inspect of our relief efforts. Always ready to speak to community members or leaders, we are grateful for Prem and his dependability! He is a true leader within Urur Kuppam.

Kumudha is teacher and centre coordinator for the children’s program at Urur Kuppam, as well as a parent of two Pudiyador alumni. She was instrumental in making the calls to children’s families to check on them, and to inform them of safety measures. When covid-positive cases began to crop up nearby, Kumudha was immediately on guard. Despite circumstances (and with extreme caution!), she made it her priority to meet with the families who we were unable to reach by phone, and tell them about the important safety measures. Her house is usually a meeting place for many young ones, but since the pandemic, she has made sure to tell them to maintain physical distancing and not gather in groups. Equally, she has helped in identifying the additional families in need (who are not Pudiyador beneficiaries) within her community to distribute provision kits when we have had a few extra kits in past rounds of distributions. What an inspiring teacher, mother and role model.

Uma lives close to our Kakkan colony centre and is our curriculum developer as well as our teacher trainer for languages at Pudiyador. At a time when roads in the surrounding area were being cordoned off, Uma was ready to offer her house as a distribution centre for provisions. Her father helped her unload the kits and distribute them within the community. This was a very emotional moment for Uma as this was the first time that her father was involved with Pudiyador and contributing to her work. Even when distributions were delayed by a day, and any time there have been extra kits left over, it has been a challenge to keep the kits safe and dry in Uma’s house. However, we have not once heard a complaint from Uma; she is always willing to lend a hand. With all the uncertainty associated with each round of distributions, Uma has remained cheerful and is always willing to often her house as a distribution location. Over the years we have seen Uma’s confidence grow and we were inspired to see her speak with such assurance on behalf of her family as well as her meticulous approach to setting up a safe and efficient system to distribute provision kits to Pudiyador families. In the first round of distribution, Uma single handedly distributed approximately 25 kits in the span of a few hours!

Apukutty (in red) is a panchayat member of Eswaran Koil street, Ramapuram, where one of our centres was formerly located. Towards the beginning of the lockdown, he realised that the families in this area were struggling financially. Along with a group of community members, he went to a more well-off neighbourhood in Ramapuram to collect funds, and distributed 160 provision kits to all the families on his street. He was gearing up for a second round of distributions, trying to raise more funds, when we got in touch with him. Pudiyador had reached out to our former students in the area, and we were wondering if we could extend our support to other families in the area. Apukutty was able to narrow down a list of 50 families that were in dire need, and provision kits were distributed accordingly. Since there had been covid-positive cases on this street, and movement was tightly restricted, many families were finding it extra difficult to source provisions. When they received the provision kits, they were extremely happy to get the help. Hats off to Apukutty for his leadership within his community.