While it was crucial to follow the physical and infrastructure aspects of COVID management to the T, it was also important to keep the community spirit alive by making residents feel assured and happy. These stories of communities uplifting their residents through group-bonding endeavours made our hearts smile with hope.

Mr. Prabhu Dass, E Sarvanan and Ravi Teja provided that much needed motivation and support to the residents in their community –
- They organized socially distanced indoor games for residents within the premises.
- They encouraged residents to play badminton and cricket provided they followed all the distancing norms.
- When a family was found COVID positive, they made everyone aware of the Dos and Don’ts instead of stigmatizing the family.

There are simply no words to honour the sacrifices made by Mr Nazrul for the community.
- While Kolkata was battling the cyclone Amphan along with the COVID crisis in May 2020, Mr. Nazrul’s was one of the houses damaged in the disaster. His children also fell ill during that time.
- Despite this, he prioritized the society over the wreckage and personally attended to all needs of quarantine COVID positive patients in the community.

Four simple measures were implemented by Arihant Greenwoods City, but that made all the difference:
- The staff and workers of the community were sent home during the first phase of lockdown.
- Almost 50-60 staff members were provided with food when they were struggling to meet ends during the crisis.
- Transparency was maintained via all communication channels while being mindful of the resident’s privacy.
- Residents helped arrange logistics and rituals during times of unfortunate incidents such as COVID related deaths.

It’s genuinely heartwarming to see not only the Managing Committee, but the residents also helping the committee manage a community during any crisis.
- They helped the facility management staff to stay inside campus and provided them with food, money and medicines.
Quarantined residents received the required essentials right at their doorstep to make them feel less isolated.

It takes a special kind of mental strength to deal with resistance during a crisis. These COVID fighters put up with a lot of it from residents. Whenever a COVID positive case was detected in one unit, protesting questions followed – “Why are the surrounding units being sealed if a case is detected in another unit?”, “Why can’t we go to work?” Children would naturally want to come out and play in the playground area. But these warriors kept pushing for standing up for the rules and made sure all government norms are followed regularly.

While everyone else was on leave during the initial days of the crisis, Mr. Uttam Kumar never went off duty. He –
- Played an important role in creating awareness about COVID related norms.
- Helped essential service providers to set up shops in the community.

The efficient and intelligent usage of the digital medium for vital community management effectively regulated movement of people in Sankalp Central Park:
- During festivals, shops were set up in the clubhouse itself so that residents don’t feel the need to step out for shopping. Residents were also encouraged to shop online.
- For functions like payment of maintenance dues and filing complaints, the community utilized ADDA software. The community also conducted it’s AGM via ADDA.
- Since gyms were not available, the nominees invited physical instructors to hold exercise sessions for residents with proper implementation of social distancing norms.

It is a blessing to have people like Mr Santosh whose keen and focused senses monitored different aspects of COVID management with utmost precision:
- He delivered essentials to residents on the quarantined floors himself when the assigned person for delivery was not available.
- He took quick action against delivery personnel who came up to the quarantined floors without checking in and assured such mishaps were not repeated.

We came to respect the tedious nature of responsibilities carried out by the security staff even more during the crisis:
- 2 security personnel each were placed at every block in the community. Besides visitors, residents and tenants were also thoroughly scrutinized at entry points.
- The buildings were sanitized every hour. Here are the details of their COVID community Management story.

How lovely it is, to see the spirit of joy live on and on within communities like Raheja Exotica:
- Recently, the community completed one year of society formation. On this joyous occasion, a socially distanced celebration was held and all stakeholders of the society participated in the event.
- The one entry-one exit policy was strictly followed. It limited the entry of visitors and led to the community hardly witnessing any COVID positive cases.
Click here to read the previous collection of Rise High Stories: The Communities Who Moved On Zealously!