Last day of the Joy of Giving Week

The final day of Joy of Giving Week, and it was also Gandhi Jayanthi.

A group of students from IIIT went to Chavadi Poor Students' Ashram on the evening of Oct 2nd.

Chavadi was started for the welfare of poor, downtrodden and orphaned children of the society in the age group of 5 to 14 years, by providing them free food, shelter, clothing and education as well as vocational training including medical aid with a main aim to create an awareness among them that the education is the fundamental right of every child.

They advertise in newspapers to admit kids. It houses around 40 semi-orphan and poor students.

We had an introduction session where each kid introduced himself to everyone and then we introduced ourselves to them. Some kids danced to some songs, some kids drew some paintings. We spent a lot of time interacting with the kids and it was a very nice feeling. Finally, we distributed Samosas and Jalebis to the kids. We had to leave early as they have to study for their exams which starts from Monday, Oct 4th.

The secret of happiness lies in the joy of giving and sharing. As a child, we all have experienced this wonderful feeling of receiving chocolates and gifts from elders and friends. Even now, a lot of happiness is associated with receiving our birthday gifts, howsoever we grow up in years!

But the joy of giving something to someone who needs it is incomparable to that little flutter the joy of receiving something creates in our hearts. You will agree with me, if you have indulged in this feeling sometime, am sure you have!

If Mahatma Gandhi were alive today, his message to us would be to give and continue to give. Let us pledge to do so both today and for all the days to come. Giving can and should continue even when the Joy of Giving Week has come to an end.


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Day2-6 of Joy of Giving Week

Day2:
I gave an amount of 200/- to my friend Nitin for the cause he likes to support. He bought some fruits and distributed them to the children at nearby slums.

Day3:
I took my friend Sai Krishna to KFC restaurant and we had a nice dinner.

Day4:
I gave away 2 pairs of my shoes to the housekeeping guys at our campus hostel.

Day5:
Samvedana (a team from IIIT) has organized a collection drive at the campus to pool in some donations for this cause. I donated a little amount for that cause. If anyone of you wishes to donate money for that, please follow the instructions given at the link.

Day6:
Students from IIIT collect some clothes in order to distribute them to people when there is a need. I donated a pair of clothes.


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Day 1 of the 'Joy of Giving Week'

As a part of my plans for the Joy of Giving Week, I went to an NGO on the first day of JGW to spend some time and donate something. As I was in a dilemma which NGO to choose for the donation, my friend Prateek sent me the details of an NGO called CHERISH(Commitment for Health,Education & Rehabilitation of the Impowerished and Struggling Humans).

My 1st gift was a donation of Rs.1700 ( My donation Rs. 500 + M Rajasekhar Rs. 500 + Avinesh Rs. 500 +  V Sreekanth Rs. 200 ) to CHERISH.

About CHERISH:
CHERISH interacts with street, slum and working children. It mainly concentrates on a comprehensive help for the children in all ways with Commitment for health, education and rehabilitation as a complete program for the homeless and unprotected children aged 4yrs to maturity (skill development stage). It offers shelter, medical assistance, nutritional supplement, education, vocational training and character re-building. The children are taught through non formal, formal and condensed methods to care for themselves in a normal way and given guidance. Older children are given responsibilities based up on their propensities and talent.

About the founder:
Mrs. Neelima Simhadri is an MBA graduate from Vijayawada. She used to work in a company in Vijayawada in the HR department. During this period she was associated with few NGOs. After her marriage, she relocated to Hyderabad and started CHERISH in 2007. She is a homemaker and has a daughter.

Expenditure(per month):
Rent and electricity: 10000
Provisions: 15,000
Miscellaneous 4,000

Current donors:

• Kingfisher sometimes provides them some provisions like dal and rice.
• People who do a onetime donations – during bithdays, anniversary, etc.
• A doctor named Pradeep Roy visits the place whenever the kids are sick. He works in Sri J.R. Clinic, Attapur.

Future Plans:
Mrs. Neelima is constructing a building near Budvel. She plans to re-locate Cherish to this place in April 2011. She hopes to cut down about 10k in her monthly expenditure by moving to this place. She desires to increase the number of children after moving there.

Concerns about the place:

• The expenses are currently met by Neelima’s husband who is employed and by adhoc donations. We couldn’t see a financial plan in place to sustain the home in the long run.
• Mrs. Neelima doesn’t have much support from family/friends and is running this more-or-less single-handedly. There is too much dependency on a single person here.
• The current place is in a very bad shape and has limitations in offering children an conducive environment for all round development. The neighbors also do not encourage the home.

Contact Details:
Mobile: 9866268700
Email: neel914@yahoo.co.in
Address: Tallagadda bus stop, opp dargha, Beside TV repair shop.

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My Plans for "Joy Of Giving Week"

'Joy Of Giving' is a volunteer driven initiative hosted in GiveIndia and it aims at bringing together people from all walks of life to engage in acts of giving in the form of money, time, skills or just simple acts of kindness. It is a platform for all across the country to celebrate the joy of giving.

The goal is to convert it into a fully publicly owned festival, just like Diwali, Holi or Thanksgiving, none of which are owned by anyone. The Week was launched in 2009 and will be held every year starting on a Sunday and ending on a Saturday, containing October 2 within. Joy of Giving Week(JGW) 2009 saw 300+ events in over 40 cities, with nearly 20 lakh people reached and over Rs. 10 crore raised for philanthropy. This year, JGW takes place from September 26th to October 2nd.

My Plans for JGW:

Well, I liked the part '7 days 7 gifts' of JGW. The idea behind 7 days 7 gifts is to take the focus away from 'ME' and on to others. The only real condition in this challenge that all 7 gifts would be meaningful and some thought would have gone into them. The idea is that by giving gifts and thinking really hard about making meaningful gifts will take the focus away from us. This can make us happier, healthier and full of life. And it will touch the receiver of the gifts.

This is how I want to do it.

Day 1: Toys/notebooks to kids at any orphanage.
Day 2: Take my friend to a restaurant and offer him a biriyani(He is very fond of Biriyani).
Day 3: A donation to one of my friends so that they can choose which cause they want to support.
Day 4: Food to someone who is really hungry.
Day 5: Spend my time at any orphanage or old-age home.
Day 6: Buy medicines for some one.
Day 7: Donate my shoes(they don't fit me anymore).

It's been really hard thinking and finalizing these ideas. If I get any other good ideas, I may change the list. But, I would like to keep the first 4 as they are.

Come, lets get together to make this campaign bigger and better and help change the lives of many, starting ours !!

What are your plans for the 'Joy Of Giving Week'?





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