Early in 2020, when the lockdown in Chennai came into effect as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, vulnerable communities across the city were the hardest hit. Adrienne Arsht – Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Centre came forward to fund food relief distribution to daily-wagers, women-led households, scheduled caste and tribal communities, and other vulnerable groups that two NGOs, Pudiyador and Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC), were working with in Chennai.