Fundraising just for instruments? Music sheets? Not in QuaranTunes. QuaranTunes not only supports musicians all over the world, but also helps fight for important issues through many different kinds of fundraisers. As most people know, COVID-19 has been an ongoing topic for the past year and a half. More recently, a new type of COVID appeared in India, named the Indian variant or the Delta variant. The Delta variant first appeared in India during December in 2020 and experts find that this variant spreads much more rapidly than other variants like the Kent or Alpha variant. This devastating second wave has hit hard on India, contributing to the surge of COVID cases. As of June, there have been over 18,000 cases of this new variant in England and caused more cases globally, not just in India. Studies show that the Delta variant transmits quickly and can transmit the disease at a rate 30 to 100% higher than other variants. Because of this, QuaranTunes decided to do something about it.
Recently, QuaranTunes has brought a new organisation into the spotlight: Project CHHAAV. I had the pleasure of interviewing QuaranTunes’ Fundraising Director and co-CFO Eshan Gupta about QuaranTunes’ latest project. As you can guess, Gupta is in charge of the fundraising aspect of QuaranTunes and works closely with the other CFO, Liam Quinn, to raise funds for different charities and organisations. Previously, they’ve set up fundraisers for organisations like “The CDC Foundation”, “Save The Music Foundation'', and charities for instrument donations. However, Project CHHAAV has no relation to music at all. Gupta laments about how COVID had detrimental effects over India, his homeland, and how cemeteries were getting filled up. Hearing about this struck an emotional chord and Gupta wanted to do something about it and take initiative. With such an important issue, Gupta decided to start a fundraiser in order to support the people in India.
How did he come to find Project CHHAAV? Gupta mentioned how India did get a lot of federal aid and aid from companies such as Tesla or Amazon. However, Gupta stated that there was an unseen problem: the rural parts of India. Much of the aid was going to the urban parts of India while in many parts of rural India, there was as much as one hospital for 20 villages. Plus, the infrastructure in rural India is in desperate need of help and the vaccination rates aren’t that high as well. Gupta found a college network in India (Indian Institute of Management) that eventually led him to find an economics professor who explained the problems of COVID in India in detail. He later then found a site called IIM Bangalore which led him to Project CHHAAV. On its Twitter account, IIM Bangalore writes that "Project Chhaav is an initiative by IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore volunteers that aims to equip Rural Frontline Health Workers with Oximeters and PPE Kits to fight this wave of COVID". That being said, Gupta wanted to find a charity that solely focused on helping the rural parts of India which is how he found Project CHHAAV.
Project CHHAAV’s goal is to “empower and help the rural communities cope with COVID”. To help the rural communities, the project started by donating PPE (personal protective equipment), oximeters, spreading education, and empowering women. Many people in rural India have been led to believe that COVID is a hoax so the project seeks to educate them about COVID and how it is all too real. Project CHHAAV also makes sure to empower the female frontline workers because in rural India, many women aren’t encouraged to work; they’re not banned from working, they’re just mainly seen as housewives and nothing else whereas in urban communities, most people don’t follow the traditional ways and women are allowed to seek higher positions without facing discrimination.
After learning about Project CHHAAV, Gupta contacted them to start the GoFundMe. Gupta also pitched his idea before finding this organisation on a board meeting call to the executives where his idea was met with enthusiasm. Currently, the money raised is about $1600 and the goal is $2500. All proceeds will go toward Project CHHAAV where it will be used for the workforce, transportation, maintenance feeds, PPE, and oximeters.
In terms of the future, Gupta hopes to continue working on future projects that donate to causes that promote education, vaccines, help villages that aren’t getting vaccines, and to all in all, keep people out of hospitals. Above all, we can all do our part to fight COVID whether it’s simply wearing a mask or starting charities to help those in need.
Image Citations:
Project CHHAAV. (2020). [Logo]. Project CHHAAV. https://in.linkedin.com/company/project-chhaav
Making Rural Communities Resilient. (2020). [Photograph]. Project CHHAAV. https://bharatfightscovid.org/