A few days ago, Ray Mitra was packaging Neosporin and various other medicines in his living room. Three days later, that same Neosporin was used by a doctor to help heal a young boy in Nepal suffering in a remote village.

Mitra, the president of the non-profit organization Indus, has taken steps to provide support to those affected by the earthquake that struck Nepal on April 25. The 7.8 moment magnitude earthquake caused more than 6,500 confirmed casualties and at least 17,200 injuries.

People have been forced out of their homes without food or medical supplies. This struck a chord with Ray Mitra, who has a history of helping others.

“I felt very bad [for Nepal], so I started this initiative because I also run a charity organization called Indus which is an arts enrichment program for low income schooling in the Bay Area, India and Kenya,” Mitra said. “I have a lot of compassion for people. I like to help people.”

The last earthquake of this magnitude was in 1906 in San Francisco. While San Francisco had the infrastructure to rebuild from its damages, Nepal does not.

“Buildings are broken, because Nepal doesn’t follow an earthquake readiness program,” Mitra said. “Their buildings are old and shabby; their airports and hospitals are all broken down.”

Mitra created a Facebook page to encourage others to donate clothes and medicines to Nepal. What he didn’t know was just how viral this page was going to be.

“It just turned into a grassroots initiative all over the Bay Area,” Mitra said. “The Nepali community in the Bay Area is very disconnected, and they do not collaborate together to make an impact. Then this opportunity came up and people started [helping out more.]”

Mitra now ships out around 50 pounds of medicine to Nepal every day. He has also collected 16,000 pounds of clothing and hopes to send those over soon.  Photo updates of the medicine’s travels are posted on Mitra’s Facebook page.

This piece was originally published in the pages of The Winged Post on May 13, 2015.