This week, over 1 billion people around the world are celebrating Diwali — the Indian festival of lights. But this year, as the COVID-19 crisis continues to bring darkness to communities across India, Horizontal’s India team is observing Diwali by passing out food packets and school supplies to underprivileged children in two of our India markets.
Eradicating darkness and illuminating hope
For Indians, Diwali is a celebration of togetherness and faith. By lighting Diyas (lamps), we eliminate darkness from our lives and welcome positivity, prosperity, wealth and good luck for the future. However, Diwali is not just about lighting our homes. It’s an opportunity for us to open our hearts and assist the less fortunate in our society.
Bangalore: Partnering with Parikrma Humanity Foundation
With chaos and difficult situations all around us during the pandemic, our Bangalore team wanted to do something for the children in the city’s slums and orphanages. On November 6, we joined forces with a non-profit organization called Parikrma Humanity Foundation to distribute stationery kits/school supplies We hope our support will give these children the strength they need to brave the difficulties in their lives.
Parikrma + Horizontal
Since the pandemic began in March, Parikrma has distributed nearly 900,000 meals and weekly rations to 1,500 families in Bangalore’s slums. At Horizontal, we selected Parikrma as a charity partner because their mission aligned with our “Greater good” core pillar, which encourages team members to serve local communities through charitable actions, education and training.
Vadodara: Partnering with a Government school
Horizontal’s Vadodara location has been working with one particular Government school for underprivileged children for several years, regularly engaging with the organization either by distributing food packets or school stationery. This year, with Diwali right around the corner we wanted to do something additional for them and see if we can make their Diwali especially cheerful in an otherwise currently gloomy world.
In this effort, the teachers are really the stars—while we delivered the food packages consisting packets of rice, yellow split peas, cooking oil, biscuits and also stationery to the school, the teachers took ownership of delivering them to the kids, which is especially commendable given they had to go door to door in the current situation.
Working together to build a brighter future
Happiness knows no language, no religion, no gender. In the true spirit of Diwali, we’re investing in our community to bring people together and celebrate the journey of life. Will you join us? Even if you haven’t celebrated Diwali in the past, I invite you to participate this year by giving back. Together, let’s eradicate the darkness and fill our communities with light.
Parikrma Event
Government School Event
