DRUM, founded in 2000, organizes working-class South Asian and Indo-Carribean New Yorkers around issues of Immigration, Workers Rights, Global Justice, and more. The reality of being working-class, and often undocumented or with precarious status, means that most of our members and the community at large are barely surviving. Most are just one emergency away from loosing everything they have. We saw that first hand during the pandemic, where many of members, especially in our Punjabi base in South Queens, lost their jobs due to the lockdowns. Due to not being documented many were not able to apply for Unemployment or any grants that most of us were able to survive off of. This is why we fight for programs like the Unemployment Bridge Fund and others to ensure long term solutions for our communities. But, as we fight our communities continue to suffer, which if why we are fundraising for the Aasra Fund. 

The Aasra fund would support the self determination of at-risk New York City individuals and families in our bases by making modest one-time grants designed to address a personal financial crisis, improve quality of life, or increase opportunities. In the past we have used similar funds to pay for someone's delivery bike, their only source of income, after it was stolen. We have used funds to pay for hopsital and emergency room bills. We have used fund to help families buy new furniture and clothes after fires and floods. We have used funds to ensure that members could rest after being in an accident and not worry about going right back to work. We have used funds to repatriate bodies back to folks home countries after they have passed away. We all need Aasra, some more than others, and this fund looks to fufil that purpouse.