Corporate and business houses extend aid in different
forms to serve their country and humankind during the pandemic
Parinaz Gandhi
Even as most businesses are battling for survival, retaining and paying their employees, charitable minded corporates are throwing a lifeline to others in need. Hearing of such magnanimous magnates from neighboring Pakistan and Sri Lanka, or from distant shores of New Zealand, USA and UK going the extra mile to render help in the form of food, sanitation items, time and expertise reaffirms one’s faith in the Parsi sethias. There may be many other well-meaning employers whose efforts have not come to notice but whose spirit the community salutes.
Pakistan
"As a policy we have never terminated any of our staff, supervisors and executives. This time also it is now four months and we haven’t terminated any single person but for lack of business we had closed down two of our hotels in Multan (one is a boutique and another is the four star Avari Xpress),” stated Byram Avari, chairman of the Avari Group of companies. We have also closed down the Xpress hotels in Faisalabad, Islamabad and a 210-room hotel on Main Gulberg Boulevard in Lahore… Three thousand staff have been sent home but for the last four months we have been giving full pay.”
During this period, the Avari Towers and Beach Luxury in Karachi as also the main Avari Lahore on the Mall were operating on a skeleton staff. In mid July they were planning to open their hotels once again as they felt business confidence was returning with the easing of the lockdown.
"Our salary bill per month has been nine crore Pakistan rupees (USD 5,36,704) which is a tough call,” revealed Avari, adding, "We haven’t been able to do anything where other requests were concerned.”
On a personal level he used his influence to get a number of Parsis who were infected admitted to the restricted Covid wards in hospitals. "Except for a couple who succumbed, all have recovered,” he mentioned.
"Calamity always brings death and misery but it also brings out the best in some people,” observed Isphanyar Bhandara, chief executive officer of Murree Brewery in Rawalpindi. "Covid-19 has shown the world at large how powerful the Almighty is and how feeble and small we are. We mostly forget this fact in our busy lives. However He’s just reminded us who the ‘boss’ is! These (corona days) are an excellent opportunity to do ‘business with God’ where you will never be in debt… On a personal level as well as at a corporate level we tried to distribute food rations to the needy and jobless. I involved my family also in this deed. Our efforts are minute as compared to others’ but I felt the satisfaction of helping the hungry,” he noted.
Sri Lanka
"It was a privilege to support the frontline staff who are truly working around the clock for us,” stated Tito Pestonjee, managing director of Abans Group, a diversified conglomerate in Sri Lanka. "For more than 50 years, the company has always been aligned to the need of the country. During these trying times, it is important for all to work together and help one another. Abans Group, together with our dedicated employees, are glad to serve our community during this crisis,” added Pestonjee.
Abans Group in Sri Lanka undertook sanitization of Fort Railway Station
As part of their efforts, Abans Group donated several television sets, washing machines and fans to Colombo East Base Hospital, Colombo South Teaching Hospital and Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital to help improve current facilities.
Abans Group also undertook the cleaning and sanitizing of the Fort Railway Station through one of their companies, Abans Environmental Services (Private) Limited, realizing that the safety and health of passengers is paramount. Over 30 Abans Environmental Services team members were deployed on this massive undertaking, knowing that the Fort Railway Station is the main doorway to the commercial hub with nearly 2,00,000 passengers crossing through daily, noted a press release.
New Zealand
Managing director of Imagetext in New Zealand, Darius Mistry mentioned that he and his wife Edwina were involved with food distribution and delivery efforts through his Rotary Club during the lockdown. He also volunteers his service to drop off lunch from the supermarket to disadvantaged children in his area while Edwina runs mentoring and counseling sessions, particularly for low-decile girls (from a lower socioeconomic stratum). Edwina being a board member of Age Concern, the family distributed quilts to old ladies who were unable to travel.
USA
"The Bhandara Foundation has pledged $100,000 (Rs 74,60,000) to the local Food Bank to assist with free food distribution. So far we have had three food distributions,” said Houston based Feroze Bhandara, president of Ardenwood Group who considered hunger due to unemployment "a big problem.” In his food distribution efforts, Bhandara was assisted by volunteers from the Zoroastrian Association of Houston (ZAH) as reported in the ZAH newsletter: "The food distribution at Sharpstown Mall lasted for nearly two hours longer than originally planned. We served approximately 3,000 cars and 1,000 walk-ups. Unpacking boxes and loading cars in the hot sun for six-and-a-half hours was a lot of work but all our volunteers felt good about serving folks in need… We were also visited by Houston mayor Sylvester Turner who posed for photos with ZAH volunteers.”
Bhandara even offered their "125-bed hospital to the local government for Covid-19 quarantine or patient overflow purposes” but there has been no response yet. He referred to his real estate business having suffered a loss in rents since March as many of their commercial tenants such as restaurants and retail shops were shut down.
Clockwise from top l: meals organized by Zoroastrian seniors in Chicago; cloth masks ordered
by Mehta Motors in Chicago; food distribution financed by Bhandara Foundation in Houston
"All our energies are geared towards keeping our employees medically tested and keeping them all on the payroll with interrupted work jobs and orders,” conveyed Houston based Aban Rustomji, president of of Coating Industries Inc. On the personal front, they too contributed to the Houston Food Bank.
In Chicago, Hosi Mehta, owner of Mehta Motors and My Car Wash ordered cloth masks with an automobile motif, for employees and for donating to customers who needed them. The masks were hand-made by Roshan Rivetna, as a service project of the World Zarathushti Chamber of Commerce — Chicago Women’s Wing led by Mani Rao, and the Zoroastrian Association of Metropolitan Chicago (ZAMC) COVID Task Force led by Zenobia Tantra. All income from the masks was donated to ZAMC’s Welfare Fund.
Through various Illinois State Senior Citizen’s programs funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, some Zoroastrian seniors received cartons of shelf stable meals. Some of these families, in turn, collected their cartons and delivered them, along with home-cooked frozen meals, to others who had lost their jobs and were in greater need.
Of the 90,000 members of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Cyrus Rivetna, founder of Rivetna Architects Inc, was asked to join a specially constituted nine-member Covid-19 national taskforce. Their goal was "to provide AIA members with resources and information on coping with Covid-19,” stated Cyrus. Initially meeting virtually two or three times a week, they now meet every fortnight to disseminate videos that they have created.
Cyrus further referred to the week starting Monday, March 16, 2020 when "computers, chairs and files were packed up and taken home. We were already in the cloud and Zoom-friendly, so the transition to remote working wasn’t difficult. To keep our group cohesive our weekly office meeting turned into a three-times a week check-in. To lighten the mood each week, someone would prepare a game — Pictionary, Trivia, Charades, etc. Three-and-a-half months later our return to the office was optional. Some staff prefer the office, while others are comfortable at home, finding it difficult to commute.”
UK
The Big Curry Night In (BCNI) as a nationwide fund-raising campaign (pictured) was launched by the British Asian Trust from May 22 to 31, 2020 in partnership with Deliveroo, Uber Eats, BT and Cobra Beer in the UK. The BCNI objective was to bring the nation together under lockdown to support those most in need across South Asia, as well as rejuvenate the UK’s local takeaway
businesses. During those 10 days, the general public was encouraged to order a curry from their local restaurant or prepare their own curry at home and share it virtually whilst raising a donation.
Ninety-eight percent of the 6,000 independent curry restaurants in the UK were engaged in BCNI by Cobra Beer. As commented Lord Karan Bilimoria, founder and chairman of Cobra Beer, "It is a wonderful initiative bringing together the curry restaurant industry in the UK, which in spite of suffering so much at this time is rallying together with a true community and collaborative spirit to raise money for the victims of Covid-19 in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It is thanks to the curry restaurants present in every corner of the UK that curry is the nation’s favorite food.”
Cyrus and Pervin Todiwala, owners of Café Spice Namaste in Whitechapel, were also part of BCNI. "Being forced to shut hit us hard but we decided to use the time to focus on what really matters which is our staff — whom we still talk to every day — and our community,” Pervin was quoted in the Evening Standard of July 1. Amidst their takeaway and delivery business, and exploring the use of technology to rebuild customer confidence, they helped St Paul’s Primary School win a grant for teaching resources from the Antonio Carluccio Foundation, and are working on several projects to teach children where food comes from, the importance of healthy eating, how to grow and cook good food, and how not to waste it.
Their original plans for the spring season in 2020 included celebrating the 25th anniversary of their restaurant, promotion of Cyrus’ new cookbook plus hosting charity dinners in spring. Cyrus believes that more than his fame as a chef what matters is his reputation as a local community champion with education and sustainability being causes dear to him. Like most well-meaning entrepreneurs, he is creating new waves.