The Covid-19 pandemic has brought to fore common people who through their deeds have achieved the status of heroes and heroines as they went about giving food and medicines to people. One such case is that of Bengaluru-based brothers, Zeeshan Javid, Zufishan Pasha and Shehzar Sheriff, who came with “Mission Milk”.
Eager to contribute to the society during Covid the three brothers wondered what to do? On realising that although rations and cooked meals were being distributed, there was not much done for infants and toddlers. And this gave rise to Mission Milk with the aim to provide this essential source of nutrition for kids.
What helped their initiative which was started in April 2020 was the easy availability of milk and also the price as the three had just started their career and milk was an affordable product for them.
In the initial days, they started with 50 litres a day purchased with their own money while by 2020 end they distributed nearly 500 litres a day. Some days, they even managed to procure up to 4,000 litres. All this was made available to poor and migrant children and families, who did not have the means to buy milk.
In this noble mission, other family members, friends and volunteers joined and the three were called “Milk Angels”.
Going through the list of milk suppliers in the city who deliver large quantities of milk, the three zeroed on to Nandini Dairy Parlour who offered them the most economical price.
In a report in in.style.yahoo.com, Sheriff explaining the model of their mission, said: “We have set up our process in such a way, where volunteers from any part of Bangalore can help out without having to leave their localities and travel to a central location to pick up the milk. All they have to do is find the closest Nandini milk parlour (as they are easily available across the city and are a state wide recognised brand), or even the closest shop selling Nandini milk to them and procure the milk at Rs 38, share the copy to us on WhatsApp and mission milk will clear the bill through UPI or bank transfer to the vendor directly.”
To ensure transparency and proper count, he said: “The only requirement we have is for the physical copy to be saved and kept as it is required for our filing and accounting purposes and distribution photos are to be taken as we use that to provide updates to our donors, without whom none of this would be possible.”
With a view to expand their good work, Mission Milk collaborated with non-governmental organisations which were providing relief to Coronavirus affected by giving ration kits, groceries and cooked meals to people.
The success of their endeavour spurred them to start another project – to provide milk to child care centres and orphanages on a daily basis.
Sharing details, the trio revealed: “During the 2021 lockdown, we scaled up our operations to 800 litres daily and also expanded the areas where we distribute. Post-lockdown, we gave all the settlements a buffer period of 2 weeks to get back on their feet. As of now we are providing orphanages and children homes across Bangalore on a daily basis.”
Wanting others to follow their model, and make the world a better place to live, the brothers have shared the success of their mission with others. “We have put out a complete guide as to how our operations work on our social media with the intention of encouraging people to replicate this model and take up the initiative in their localities/cities so that little by little we can cover entire cities and hopefully one day the country,” said Sheriff.
