Royal Challengers Bangalore would be paying tribute to COVID-19 Real Challengers through #MyCovidHeroes initiatives throughout the Indian Premier League 2020.
To acknowledge the efforts and honour the sacrifices made by these real challengers, the RCB team will proudly don a tribute jersey with the message “My COVID Heroes” both during training and matches for the entire tournament.
The message will be displayed on the back of the jerseys. RCB team will also be supporting GiveIndia Foundation by donating the proceeds from the auction of the jerseys that players wear during the season’s first RCB match.
Also through the season RCB players would be paying tribute to all the COVID Heroes and sharing some of the inspirational stories on the team’s Social Media Handles with the intent to inspire millions of RCB’s fans to embrace this hero spirit and be Real Challengers in their own context.
During the tribute Jersey launch, Sanjeev Churiwala, Chairman, RCB said, “Royal Challengers Bangalore has always stood for playing bold in the face of adversities, and we believe that right now these COVID Heroes are embodying this purpose by relentlessly fighting for the greater good. Humanity is going to be grateful to them for many generations to come and through this campaign, we wanted to be among the first to pay tribute to their challenger spirit both on and off the field.”
Virat Kohli, Captain, RCB said, “In the past few months, whenever I heard the stories of the COVID Heroes it has given me literal goosebumps. These real challengers have made the country proud and inspired all of us to be more persistent and dedicated to our efforts to build a better tomorrow. I am truly proud to wear RCB’s “My COVID Heroes” jersey as a sign of solidarity and gratitude to everyone who is right now going the extra mile to support the community at large. They have batted day and night and fought on the field, and I am honoured to call them my heroes.”
During the launch, RCB players including Virat Kohli, Parthiv Patel and Devdutt Paddikal were seen interacting with Real Challengers Simranjeet Singh, Hetika Shah and Zeeshan Javid who have worked tirelessly and have created a strong positive impact in these trying times.
Simranjeet Singh, despite being a hearing challenged, did help others in the pandemic. He approached people to raise donations for the poor suffering in the pandemic and many Deaf individuals agreed. These individuals weren’t from any particular organisation and they selflessly donated funds. Simranjeet Singh along with his friends raised Rs 98,000 to help people.
Seeing the urgent requirement for protective gear, Hetika Shah through continuous effort developed ‘Four-S Shield’- the first Indigenously made N99 Mask certified by the NABL lab. Developed by Hetika Shah, the 4S SHIELD face mask covers all four sensory organs and aims to help frontline workers treating COVID-19 patients.
Zeeshan Javid was helping migrant workers in need by delivering milk, as it is a vital commodity for children. He started Mission Milk and began funding it with his pocket money. He along with his brothers started by providing 60 liters a day and slowly scaled up to distributing 500 liters of milk every day. This way, the team has distributed 20,080 liters of milk among 40,000 children living in 45 different areas of North Bengaluru.
The team has started an online fundraiser on Milaap, a crowdfunding website with a goal to raise ₹7.5 lakh and provide 150 families with milk on a daily basis.