Volunteers bring winter relief to Islamabad's daily wage workers

ISLAMABAD: Volunteers drive through Islamabad after dark, their cars packed with blankets and quilts, searching for workers who will spend another night sleeping on the streets.

At intersections in sectors G-9, G-10, G-11, and G-13, thousands of daily wage workers gather each day. Most travel from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southern Punjab to seek work in the capital. They wait. Sometimes contractors arrive with job offers. Sometimes they don't.

When night falls, and no work has come, the workers have nowhere to go. They spread out across footpaths and open grounds as temperatures drop, settling in for another freezing winter night.

That's when Act of Kindness arrives.

For a decade, the volunteer organization has worked to bring relief to Islamabad's most vulnerable workers. Founder Atiq Afridi built the group on a simple premise: crowdfunding through social media to purchase blankets, pillows, and comforters, then sending teams of students and young professionals into the streets to deliver them directly.

"We've been doing this for 10 years now," Afridi said. "Our friends on social media contribute, then their friends join in, our teachers support us, their relatives participate — everyone becomes part of this chain of giving."

The chain has grown. What started as winter relief has expanded into medical camps, blood donation drives, and meal distribution programs. The organization now helps people start small businesses and operates teams in multiple cities across Pakistan.

"We have teams in different cities now," Afridi said. "This isn't charity — it's community. It's about recognizing that the people who build our cities deserve our support."

Each night, the volunteers finish distributing supplies, and workers across Islamabad settle down with new blankets against the cold. And each morning, they return to the same intersections, waiting again for work.