Chennai Man Reads Newspaper To Spot People He Can Help Amid COVID

R Ajith Kumar has been doing this ever since lockdow started.

Representational image.

(Photo Courtesy: IANS)

A good samaritan of Chennai, R Ajith Kumar, has taken it upon himself to reach out to those in need. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought lives and the economy to an unprecedented halt and recognising this, Kumar has been spending his mornings flipping through newspapers to find people he can help out in any way.

Kumar's efforts are consistent. Ever since the lockdown began, Kumar has been reading newspapers to spot and locate the needy. He reads three newspapers - one in English and two in Tamil, reported Times of India. First he skims through the papers to find names. He then contacts reporters who may have filed the story to get in touch with the people directly.

Kumar uses his own resources to help people.

R Ajith Kumar's contributions so far..

In May, Kumar reached out to a disabled stage artist, S Kanagaraj and helped him out by depositing money in his account.

Kumar also financially supported the family of a local barber who had died by suicide.

He regularly also visits camps where disabled people and 'guest workers' live to provide them with ration and other essentials.

Kumar has also been funding the education of children whose parents lost their jobs because of the pandemic.

Wider outreach

While Kumar's efforts are commendable, there's still a limit to how many people he can personally help. In order to increase his outreach, he has opened two stores in Chennai. The purpose of these stores is to collect clothes from donors and make them available to the needy.

(With inputs from Times of India)