While most of Aizawl sleeps, a group of young men and women step quietly onto the city’s empty streets. They carry simple things like food packets, medicine, blankets, and head towards places where the city’s forgotten gather. For these volunteers of the Zo Inspiration Foundation, such midnight missions are not an exception but a routine, born out of the belief that charity is not only about money raised but also about presence, solidarity, and human touch.
This little-known side of the Foundation’s work has, in many ways, defined its spirit. Founded in 2020 during the pandemic, Zo Inspiration Foundation is often described in terms of the funds it has raised or the houses it has built. Yet behind the statistics is a corps of volunteers who lend their time, energy, and even their nights to keep the movement alive. Their task is rarely glamorous. Delivering medicine to a struggling youth, sitting with a family that cannot afford hospital meals, or carrying rice up a hill in the rain does not make headlines. But it is this invisible labour that has stitched it into the daily lives of Mizoram’s people.
Founder Emmanuel Thangrosanga describes them as “the backbone of the Foundation.” “Funds can build houses and pay school fees,” he says, “but it is volunteers who carry the hope to where it is needed most.” Over the past five years, the Foundation has grown into a registered non-profit, raising over ₹3.48 crore entirely through public contributions. Its programmes now cover healthcare, housing, education, and livelihood support. Yet Emmanuel is quick to point out that without volunteers, those programmes would remain only on paper.
One such volunteer, a college student who joined the Foundation after seeing a campaign online, recalls her first mission. “It was raining, and we were carrying food to a group of young boys who had nothing to eat that night. They were surprised we even found them. That moment changed how I see charity; it’s not about what we give, it’s about showing up.”
Looking ahead, Zo Inspiration Foundation continues to plan larger campaigns, new homes for the homeless, winter relief drives to remote villages, and the annual Charity Ride in December. But for the volunteers, it is the smaller, quieter gestures that matter: ensuring a child has books for school, checking in on a patient after surgery, or standing with someone who simply needs not to feel alone.
In Mizoram, where the cultural value of selflessness runs deep, Zo Inspiration Foundation has struck into something timeless. Its volunteers are not just helping hands; they are carriers of a tradition, reimagined for today’s challenges.
As Emmanuel reflects, “We may not be able to do everything, but with volunteers who give their nights and their hearts, we can remind people that they are not forgotten.”
Perhaps it is the foundation’s most powerful achievement and building a movement where kindness does not end with a donation. But starts with a human presence.
