Times of India
10 September 2010
Pune, India

City–based non–governmental organisations (NGOs), corporates and other institutions have come together to observe the Joy of Giving Week 2010 from September 26 to October 2.

"A variety of events – including fund–raisers, awareness drives, blood donation camps, thanksgiving and various teaching and coaching activities – have been planned," said Rati Forbes, director, Forbes Marshall, while addressing a news conference here on Thursday.

The news conference was also addressed by Ashwini Malhotra, vice president, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII); Anshu Gupta, founder, Goonj; Viren Rasquinha, COO, Olympic Gold Quest and Ajay Aggarwal, founder of Rotary Margdarshak. These are a few of the many organisations that will be part of the Joy of Giving Week, which aims to bring together citizens through different acts of giving money, time, skills or resources.

Forbes said the Joy of Giving Week will be held every year. "It aims to bring together everybody – schools, colleges, NGOs, corporates – on a common platform. Over the last few weeks, a team of volunteers has been in touch with NGOs, hospitals, corporate organisations and the general public to promote this cause. This one week is an opportunity for everybody to reach out and provide their time, skill, talent and money," she said.

As many as 50 events have been planned. "One such event will be ‘Vastrasamman’, where clothes will be used as a resource to support those who suffer due to lack of clothing. All of us have old clothes, books or medicines to give away, but do not know what to do. Goonj will be providing multiple collection points across the city where people can donate clothes, and other unwanted, but reusable material," said Gupta.

As part of this week–long event, Navkshitij, an NGO working for the cause of mentally challenged children, will organise a walk from Good Luck chowk to Sambhaji park on October 2, and along the way will present street plays ‘Bharatata Swatantrya Sangram’ and ‘Vatchal’, based on freedom fighters.

Another initiative slated for September 27 has a ‘Mobile Smiley Bank’ mounted on a mobile ad van circulating around the city to collect people’s donation in the smiley bank. The idea is to raise funds for the Hope for the Children Foundation, working for underprivileged children, and selected NGOs.

Another initiative will have employees of various corporate organisations in the city contributing Rs 100 and more to the Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ), founded by champion sportsmen Geet Sethi and Prakash Padukone to enable and support the best Indian athletes at the Olympics level. "We are currently supporting athletes like Saina Nehwal, Gagan Narang, Tejaswini Sawant, Meri Kom, P T Usha School and many others," added Rasquinha.

Roadstar, which has been organised by NGO Margdarshak, is yet another initiative of the Joy of Giving Week. "All participating institutions, corporates and Rotary clubs will choose a traffic spot to reward two–wheeler riders who wear helmets. The reward can be flowers, a thank you card or any other memento. The objective is to encourage best practices while driving," said Aggarwal.

"As one of the many activities planned during the week, Young Indians (YI) and CII have organised a corporate golf tournament. The funds raised from this event will go towards tribal schools, the Akshara Foundation, de–worming and healthcare drives in civic schools supported by YI in Pune," said Malhotra.

Building Hope
Some Other Initiatives

• Hope For the Children Foundation (HCFC) and their corporate partners in Pune will contribute a day of earning to HFCF programmes
• Children Pledge: 20,000 children will pledge to have a week–long fundraising event to raise funds and to provide more computer labs to schools.
• Dinner With A CEO: Mile is organising a raffle across colleges and corporates, where seven winners will get the opportunity to have dinner with a CEO of a renowned company at a five–star hotel.
• Donation Drive: Mile will go from door–to–door and collect clothes, newspaper and things that can be recycled
• Teaching Underprivileged Children: Students of MILE will impart education to underprivileged children
• Street Feeding Programme: HCFC will feed 3,000 street children in different parts of Pune
• Europe Asia Business School has taken the charge to collect unused books and stationery from a variety of sources to donate it the needy