CRY America’s “Walk for Child Rights” to help kids in post-COVID India

- ADVERTISEMENT -

The nonprofit CRY America (Child Rights & You America) has been holding walks nationwide staring Sept. 8, 2022 and going on till November 30, to raise funds for helping children in India who have born the consequences of the COVID pandemic over the last two years.

“The COVID pandemic revealed just how interconnected – and interdependent – we all are, the world over,” the organization said in a press release September 27.

In that spirit, walkers, runners and bicyclists across the United States have been taking to scenic public trails since September 8 to support children half a world away through Child Rights and You (CRY) America’s annual “Walk for Child Rights” events till November 30.

CRY America supports more than 30 projects in India and the U.S. whose goal is to ensure access to education and healthcare for underprivileged children, as well as protection from child labor, early marriage and trafficking.

The CRY Walk for Child Rights launched officially on the International day of Literacy and the series features in-person and virtual events in over a dozen cities, including Seattle, New Jersey, San Diego, Houston, Boston, New York, Austin & Nashville. To register to participate at an event near you, visit CRY America’s website at cryamerica.org.

Children’s access to education, especially those in poverty-affected communities bore the brunt of the extended stay-at-home orders and school closures, which effectively pre-empted two years’ worth of study, the organization said in its press release.

“The disruption in schooling has resulted in many dire consequences,” said CRY America CEO Shefali Sunderlal, is quoted saying in the press release. She added that rates of child labor and child marriage spiked between 2020 and 2022. “CRY Projects are working hard to enroll & retain children back in schools, along with providing them supplementary education classes & psychosocial support,” she said.