Pandemic-hit couple raises Rs 53 lakh via crowdfunding to support 23 students

The couple, Shivaji Lazarus and Prema, started the NGO in 2010. While Shivaji was a bus driver, who but had lost his job before the lockdown, Prema used to work as a business process outsourcing (BPO) staffer.

A couple from Bengaluru has managed to raise Rs 53 lakh after crowdfunding to support 23 children, who are being raised in their NGO ‘Miracle Manna Children’. The couple, Shivaji Lazarus and Prema, started the NGO in 2010. At present, 19 of them are in school, while four students of Class 11 and 12.While Shivaji was a bus driver, who but had lost his job before the lockdown, Prema used to work as a business process outsourcing (BPO) staffer. She, however, decided to leave her job to take care of the children. But the pandemic, which followed soon after, made it extremely difficult for them to find work good enough to support their idea.