Dear Friends,

Thank you for your support

This is to inform you that we are shutting down our Agra outlet of Sheroes Hangout Cafe, the only means of survival for 15 acid attack survivors. The annual turnover of the cafe for the year 2019-20 was nearly ₹75 Lakhs which has come down to just ₹3 Lakhs since last year. We faced a record fall of 95% in total revenue with a mere 5% sales. Both of our cafes collectively require a bare minimum of resources of approx ₹25,000 a day to keep them running. We are failing to pay monthly salaries to our survivors, kitchen, housekeeping, and other staff members.

To pay a hefty amount of rent and electricity dues has become unbearable for us. Citing the aforementioned reasons, we are compelled to shut the cafe down.

We are facing a similar situation at our Lucknow outlet which also faces a danger of shutting down if the conditions do not improve. Ever since the beginning of the pandemic, we had put in all our efforts to run the cafe but continued suffering heavy financial losses which have nearly exhausted our resources.

Sheroes hangout was not any regular cafe, but it was a family of the acid attack survivors who found warmth and solace within the four walls of the cafe. Things are going to take a 360-degree turn for our survivors but we hope your love and support for us remains constant.

Together, we will bounce back stronger. We hope to serve you again at Sheroes Hangout cafe with all our zeal.

Please do contribute and share the campaign link
https://milaap.org/fundraisers/support-sheroes-hangout

Dear Friends,

Every step we are stepping up towards our goal is only because of your support. We can not ask for more, your support is really appreciated.

We are putting every possible effort so that no stone is left unturned. In this series, we have introduced an awareness calendar to spread the word among the public masses and to generate revenues in this tough time.

Details of the Calendar: Purchase Women's Day Calendar 2021-22 to empower acid attack survivors with meaningful jobs in distressing times of the COVID 19 pandemic.

A thoughtfully crafted gifting venture being run by acid attack survivors- 'A Gift Story' is launching a Women's Day Calendar 2021-22 illustrating micro-narratives of acid attack survivors becoming self-reliant

100% of the proceeds from the sale of this calendar will be used to provide meaningful jobs to acid attack survivors in distressing times.

You can support our cause by purchasing the Calendar and spreading the word about our campaign.

You can place your orders on WhatsApp: 9717172827

Or on our website: https://agiftstory.store/product/womens-day-calendar-2021-22/

Thank you

Dear Friends,

Many Greetings of Republic Day.

Thank you for the love you have showered on us. With your help, we have been able to raise the support for our beneficiaries and the organization but still, a lot is to be done. The pandemic followed by a global lockdown began that left everyone in a dilemma because of the uncertainty on its ending. A lockdown that stopped every moving bit.

Chhanv Foundation and our small community of acid attack survivors could not remain untouched and unaffected for a long time with its ruthless effect. In the beginning, we continued to provide regular financial help to the beneficiaries and staff members with the available resources but then there came a time with Chhanv Foundation when there had been no business for four months due to the COVID19 lockdown.

It became really difficult for us to run our Non-Profit when the major revenue source of our foundation, Sheroes Hangout cafes, were closed. Not only cafes COVID hit us in many other ways as it stopped the regular & scheduled treatments of the survivors, reach out to new survivors were drastically affected, our rehabilitation centers Sheroes Homes were closed and Education Training for the survivors was stopped completely.

Since the lockdown began, the closing of the cafes has caused uncertainty in the Jobs of the beneficiaries & other staff associated with the cafe. We fought tooth & nails every day to secure their jobs, for the same we started a fundraising campaign (bit.ly/supportsheroesincovid) to ensure a survival amount of Rs 5K for the next 6 months for the beneficiaries. Later with the help of supporters & loved ones we were able to increase that amount to Rs 10K which is also a healthy part (nearly 60%) of their salaries. This campaign also helped us to pay the staff and other necessary utility payments.

Other than financial help for the survivors, we organized many virtual mental health counseling sessions and yoga sessions to keep them mentally and physically fit, various learning classes & workshops were organized for their skill upliftment.

To provide long term sustainability to the organization, we introduced a new venture called “A Gift Story” (https://agiftstory.store). With this new venture, we aim to transform our operation of the Sheroes Cafe into a thoughtfully crafted gifting portal called 'A Gift Story', to thrive in this crisis. But as it is a new venture it will also take some time to gain momentum and initially, it requires a capital cost and resources to set up. For its initial set-up, we launched a fundraiser which is stepping up slowly (https://milaap.org/fundraisers/support-ritu-saini)

Some relieving news came from the Lucknow chapter of the Sheroes Hangout, where after the guidelines from the Government we began the operations. However, the sales the graph is very low & below the average and eventually, it is not able to cover the running costs & staff salaries who are working there in these challenging times.

This was a brief report on the timeline post lockdown. In the next update, we will provide the details of the gap which is to be filled.
We are thankful to you for standing after us in such a tough time. Through this campaign, we are trying our best to fill up the huge financial gap. To support us please visit: https://milaap.org/fundraisers/support-sheroes-hangout
To join us, please write us at chhanvfoundation@gmail.com

Thank you,
Team Sheroes Hangout.