[Monday Motivation] Meet the 26-year-old feeding 200+ stray dogs in Faridabad every day

Vrinda Sharma, a 26-year-old corporate professional based in Faridabad, claims to be the youngest person to run a shelter in her city.

For Vrinda, caring for strays became a part of life since her childhood. As a single child, she would surround herself with stray dogs, looking after them growing up.

But it was during her college days that she understood the lack of quality care available for stray animals in Faridabad, she tells SocialStory.

According to her, Faridabad doesn’t have many facilities when it comes to taking care of injured or abandoned dogs. Locals are generally apathetic towards the situation of stray dogs and are generally unreceptive to the idea of taking care of animals.

“Even for a small issue, I had to take the dogs to either Delhi or Gurugram. There is no place to keep them when they are healing and no place to rehabilitate them after a surgery in Faridabad,” Vrinda says.

She started by feeding stray dogs on a daily basis without fail. The number of animals to feed went up during the COVID-19-induced lockdown. But Vrinda soon realised that a shelter home was the need of the hour and launched a charity Me and My Human Foundation in 2020.

This foundation has been relentlessly working for the welfare of distressed stray dogs in the city of Faridabad. It is run by Vrinda, three other people, and a part-time paramedical staff.

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Not an easy walk

“People, especially in a semi-urban city in Haryana like mine, find it difficult to listen to a woman. Even generally, girls renting out a place for themselves is difficult in Faridabad, let alone a proper shelter for animals,” Vrinda says.

It took her months of searching to find a place to set up her shelter. Even after that, she faced opposition from people around. However, support too poured in from others, especially the youngsters, which motivated Vrinda to keep going and grow her foundation slowly and steadily.

Vrinda, who did her Master's in Clinical Psychology, is currently working with a corporate (which she does not wish to name) while running her charity home.

She tries to attend to the dogs before and after her working hours and whenever she can in between. Her first daily visit to the shelter home is usually at 5:30 am. Additionally, she makes sure that she and her team feeds the dogs in their community every day.

“I don't remember taking too many leaves in the recent past for personal reasons. But over a period of time, I realised that if you prioritise something, you will find time for it,” Vrinda adds.

Care-taking

Currently, Me and My Human Foundation caters to only dogs due to a lack of space and resources. On average, Vrinda receives about six rescue calls daily. Additionally, the team also caters to any stray dogs it spots on roads.

In cases that are not serious, the dogs are taken care of at the site itself. If they need immediate attention, they are brought in and helped at the shelter home. For those that need surgeries, Vrinda and her team take them to hospitals in Delhi-NCR.

All surgery costs and post-operation services are taken care of by Vrinda and her team. She manages the cost mostly using her personal salary, as well as from fundraising via social media and from friends and family.

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Other initiatives

At present, Vrinda’s shelter home can only house 30 dogs at a time. In addition to adoption drives, the foundation also runs sterilisation and vaccination drives every year.

It also has a ‘Learn and Earn' Foster Program’, under which it trains underprivileged children to foster Indie pups in need. In return, the foundation helps pay their fees and reduce dropouts while the pups get adopted or rehabilitated.

“We are fighting against cruelty against animals. We recently started to file FIRs for any crimes against animals and get the right actions due taken,” says Vrinda.

Her next goal is to bring standardised care to stray animals in Faridabad, which is available in bigger cities. She also wishes to take care of other animals too apart from dogs.