Thursday 25 September 2008

Starting Small, Thinking Big

With a few thousand in the trusts account, we are thinking about where to start. Needless to say, we want to reach out to as many as possible and do as much as we can... BUT we are extremely eager to get going. As a starting point we're working on the following two small projects:

SOLIDARITY VISITS:
Visit the three families that live very close to Islamabad. It's not everyone, we realise, but it is someone... and that is a good place to start. The 'Pakistan Social Association' volunteers and any one else who wants to can visit these families to pledge our support to them.

CONDOLENCE CARDS TO ALL VICTIMS FAMILIES:
We are 'trying' to get a hold a list of all the victims... The final list is hard to get by. But the efforts are still underway. And we will keep you posted on both.

Tuesday 23 September 2008

Volunteers Needed

Anyone who wants to help out in any way, is welcome to do so. This idea belongs to all of us who want to help. There are various categories you guys can voluteer in:

1. We have a lot of media peeps in the group here... I understand the channels are not at your disposal guys but any help would be a giant leap! :) Also, various news channels are running stories on the victims, if anyone of you can fetch us information on them... it would be super!!

2. Spreading the word amongst near and dear

3. Volunteering time: Abbas has kindly volunteered to keep up our blog, group and email, BUT we need a lot of help in posting information such as channelizing of funds -- where the money is coming from and who has it gone to etc - to keep all the matters absolutely transparent.

4. Donating Money: This is the simplest way of going about things

5. As soon as we recieve the list of victims we will need to start an effort to generate a database. Volunteers can help us greatly in making phone calls and sorting and maintaining information.

Process for Donations


Guys,

This is somewhat the donations break up we are working on. Needless to say this is extremely basic and requires a lot more thought. We have recently added severly injured victims and amputees to our scope of work also... That would obviously mean taking care of their medical bills.

Any thoughts here are welcome.

Regards
Sadaf

Monday 22 September 2008

THE CITIZENS TRUST FOR VICTIMS OF TERROR

Idea: To generate an on-going fund for the families of the victims of Terror attacks primarily those affected by Suicide Bombs.

Synopsis: As a trend the primary victims of suicide attacks are the Security Guards, Low level Police Soldiers, Security Officials and Drivers etc. Usually the victim leaves over 5 dependants behind who in most cases are given anywhere between Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 300,000 from the employer or the government.

On-ground Reality: We exalt these brave men and women to the status of Martyrs however, after a basic amount from the government/ employer; we absolve ourselves of this responsibility.

The Emotion: Pakistanis are one family. When one member of the family is in distress, the rest all rush to his or her help… Similarly if a member of our Pakistani brotherhood gives his life protecting the others it is our duty to ensure that his dependants are taken care of.

Mechanics:

1. Generate a comprehensive database of victims, their dependants and profile their dependents as per:
a. Age
b. Gender
c. Relation
2. Establish an Account in the name of the victims and their families
3. Make a Nationwide call for donations
4. Based on the donations received make donations to the victims families to fortify whatever small amount they have received from the government or their employer.

Areas of Concern:

The fund will be utilized in the following three areas of concern:
1. Education
2. Welfare

Based on the feedback from the donors following areas can be included in the program, the mechanics of the same can be finalized once the areas are included.
3. Medical
4. Special Concerns (Marriage, Post Humus Birth of Child etc)

Education:
For education one may partner with existing NGOs such as The Citizens Foundation or Teach a Child Foundation who are already working in the area. With a regular monthly stipend towards each child benefiting from this program, responsibility of the education can be handed over.
However, in the absence of such an alliance as yet, the fund will be directed towards simply paying the children's fee to the school they are studying in currently. This offers the additional benefit of the child continuing in his or her familiar environment.

Welfare:
To avoid complication, the Welfare amount will be based on number of depends and amount per dependant as opposed to a lump sum being handed over to each house hold. This will take into consideration each dependant as opposed to each family.

Potential Donors:

Corporate Donors: Corporate Donors may include all organizations in the country however; special sponsorship packages can be devised to accommodate bigger donations.

Individual Donors: Individual Donors are at liberty to donate as little or as much as they choose.


Partner Organization:

To win donor trust, this initiative is being carried out in partnership with an established organization.

Profile of the partner is below:

Pakistan Social Association:

This organization was established on the first of January, 1930 in Hyderabad Deccan. The aims and objects of this organization are to get the pleasure of God through the service of humanity. This organization has been operational for more than a half century and is one of the oldest Social and educational organizations in the sub continent. The PSA has trained more than one million social workers in half a century. The movement has got 400 branches consisting of five thousand members in four provinces of Pakistan.

Project Scale:

The sky is the limit. Given the recent terror attack at Marriot and the month of Ramadan, it is perhaps best to start this fund with the victims of the latest incident.

The fund can be sustained for longer term for (God forbid) any other terror victims that might require assistance.

Eligibility Criteria for Victims:

Whereas all victims of such terror attacks deserve help and support, the trust fund will start with supporting the more needy low level employees in the beginning.

This will be decided at the discretion of a committee formed for the purpose.

Account Details for Donations:

The account below will be used for the donations:

Pakistan Social Association
1001407
Muslim Commercial Bank
F10 Markaz Branch