Grameenphone employees, Bidyanondo join hands to spread Eid joy

Eid – a festival of joy and sacrifice – becomes more meaningful when the happiness is spread to the poor, particularly when they are gasping to survive an unprecedented crisis, Covid-19.

From that very belief, employees of Grameenphone – the largest mobile network carrier in Bangladesh – have joined hands with Bidyanondo Foundation – a voluntary organisation – to provide special Eid meals to over 31,000 unprivileged people in several districts on the occasion of Eid-ul-Adha.

The philanthropic initiative – "Grameenphone Eid Er Khushi" – can bring joyous moments to these people's lives during the festival, they believe.

As part of the initiative, the Grameenphone employees have donated more than Tk46.20 lakh from their festival allowance to Bidyanondo Foundation.

Grameenphone and Bidyanondo Foundation signed a memorandum of understanding in this regard on Tuesday, reads a press release.

Syed Tanvir Husain, chief human resources officer of Grameenphone and Kishor Das, founder chairman of Bidyanondo Foundation, along with Fazlul Haque, acting president of Grameenphone Employees Union, Khairul Basher, head of communications, Hafizur Rahman Khan, lead specialist of sustainability of Grameenphone, were present at a virtual deal-signing ceremony.

The release issued by Grameenphone says that its employees believe that this is the time to stay by the countrymen, especially the low-income community, who are badly affected by Covid-19. 

Kishor Das said Covid-19 has severely hit most of the population through a decline in income, job loss, closing of shops and business activities and even a complete halt of income. Most of the poor are facing hardships to arrange adequate food supply at this time.

"We are extremely pleased to be working with them [Grameenphone] on this initiative of helping people and providing some happiness to them during such a crisis."

The Eid feast to more than 31,000 people will be arranged in Dhaka, Chattogram, Rajshahi, Kurigram, Narayanganj, Rangpur, Cox's Bazar and Khagrachhari. Bidyanondo will organise the entire event, starting from the Eid day till August 3.

Syed Tanvir Husain said, "Eid teaches us to sacrifice and spread joy to people around us. I am happy that, together as a family, we have come forward to spread Eid happiness to the distressed people in these challenging times."

Grameenphone has already taken several other initiatives to support the under-served population since the Covid-19 outbreak in Bangladesh.