On July 17^th and 18^th, I will be doing a solo fundraising trek over as many hills as I can in the Peak District, Derbyshire, UK to raise money for Calcutta Rescue's COVID-relief efforts in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

I am a Trustee of the charity’s UK support group and last year I spearheaded the Kolkata COVID Challenge which raised more than £200K to help thousands of the poorest people in Kolkata who have been most affected by the impact of the COVID crisis.

India has now been hit even harder by a second wave of the virus which, coming on the back of last year's crisis, threatens to have an even greater impact on their ability to access healthcare, education and earn enough money to feed their families.

I work for Barclays, and as part of their COVID-19 Community Aid Package, it has generously agreed in principle to match-fund all the money to be raised through Kolkata COVID Peak Challenge. This means that all your personal donations will be DOUBLED!

All the money raised will provide ongoing & continuous support to the following COVID related projects:

• Immediate Support:
  
  • Feeding 10,000 beneficiaries and this will be a continuous programme till COVID waves fades away..
  • Created a team to locate people with symptoms of COVID-19 and provide medical help. https://www.telegraphindia.com/.../city-based.../cid/1815625
  • COVID-19 vaccination.. A joint venture between Calcutta Rescue and Dr. Devi Shetty (RN Tagore Hospital)..
    
  • Ship Oxygen Concentrators, Pulse Oximeters & Thermometers to Kolkata.
  • Stock Doxycycline, Dexamethasone, Budesonide inhalers to treat patients in case these are not available in market.
  • Enhanced Telemedicine support in Bengali delivered by specialist physicians.
  • The pharmacy is buying in supplies of key medicines and 3-4 months of masks and PPE; at present it has 1 months’ supply of PPE.
  • A contact list at hospitals has been prepared and will be used by managers at CR if they need to get someone admitted urgently.
  • Setting up ‘UK / USA Buddy Up System’ to provide clinical & psychological support to the doctor’s cohort in Kolkata, India.
• Nutrition: Since the start of the pandemic Calcutta Rescue has been providing nutritious food rations and vitamins to the  families of all its students and to hundreds of the neediest in the slums where it works. Many people have lost all or part of their work since the start of the COVID crisis and are surviving on one meal a day. Patients who need extra nutrition such as those with TB, HIV and mothers are now receiving more nutritious food.
• Community Health Workers (CHWs): Calcutta Rescue is expanding the number of CHWs who work in their own communities from 5 to 15. They provide health education and identify those in need of medical help and link them up to CR or other services.
• Flu Vaccinations: Calcutta Rescue is working to vaccinate 2,000 of the most vulnerable patients.
• Hygiene Kits: Calcutta Rescue is providing masks, hand sanitisers, and cleaning powder to people in the slums.
• Education on Wheels: With schools closed for over a year, Calcutta Rescue converted its school minibus into a mobile classroom and has been taking it into the slums so that preschool children get the face-to-face support they need to master the basics. A second minibus was purchased in March and this will allow the project to reach more slums with greater frequency and start working with older children.
• COVID Warriors: Following training, 10 senior Calcutta Rescue students have been running awareness sessions in their communities reminding people of how to protect themselves from COVID.
• Handwashing Stations: Six of these were installed in Dakshineswar slum in March along with the ongoing provision of soap and health education. Similar projects in other slums are planned this year.
• Mask Making: Calcutta Rescue’s Handicraft Project has made 6,500 masks for staff and for businesses in Kolkata.
• Creating Livelihoods: Calcutta Rescue’s Handicraft Project is running a series of three-month courses training 100 people in needlework skills this year with the aim of helping them into employment.
• Covid Impact Survey: In March Calcutta Rescue began a survey in 9 slums to better understand the impact of the Covid crisis on the lives of the people it helps. The information from this will help inform the NGOs decisions over the coming period.

I chose to hold the fundraiser in July close to the birthday of the charity's inspirational founder, Dr Jack Preger, the grandfather of global street medicine.

So, on Saturday and Sunday the 17^th and 18^th of July, I’ll be going over many famous peaks in the Peak District including The Great Ridge and Win Hill. I have never done anything this physically demanding and am hoping that people around the world will sponsor me and help provide vital support for the under-privileged in their hour of greatest need.

Thank you so much for your support!