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Give and let live

PHOTO: T. SINGARAVELOU

DO YOUR SHARE Bhupendra Maru, President of Shuddham displays some of the posters and banners of the Joy of Giving Week

The boy who gave away his lollipop to his underprivileged counterpart has moved the nation. GiveIndia Foundation’s Joy of Giving Week (September 27 to October 3) movement is uniting the country like never before, with everyone desiring to simply give whatever they can. While the rest of the country is busy roping in brand ambassadors and arranging cultural events, Puducherry is gearing up to give in its own unpretentious way, without being bribed or enticed to give.

Joy of Giving Week in Puducherry promises to be one mass coordinated effort involving the entire town. Sample this: over 90 schools, 30 colleges, 20 stores, 10 restaurants, 45 industries, 15 clubs and organizations, and a couple of banks and hospitals have pledged their support to the campaign. A few government departments are chipping in as well.The credit for all this goes to Shuddham, an NGO working towards solid waste management in the town, and CAOS (Creative Art of Souls) Apparels, an environment conscious export company, who have taken up this cause of giving in Puducherry.

Their strategy is simple. Working under the vastra-samman initiative of award winning NGO Goonj, they are going to facilitate the donation of clothes, utensils, stationery, and recyclable items like cardboard boxes and newspapers. All that is collected by them, and the numerous schools, colleges and organizations participating, will in turn be forwarded to Goonj. All that is directly usable, will be distributed to people in need, and all that is ‘waste’, will be fashioned into utilities and then passed on to the needy. After all, Goonj has been able to conjure utilities even out of cassette tapes.

Although the Joy of Giving campaign in Puducherry is relatively straightforward, it is by no means low profile. No matter where you look, in shops, restaurants and even on auto rickshaws, posters and banners urge you to experience the joy of giving. The local channels enthusiastically promote the event every few minutes, and newspapers are announcing the event as well. The response has been phenomenal.

“We are expecting at least sixty per cent of Puducherry’s ten lakh population to participate, directly or indirectly. That is the kind of response we have received,” reveals Bhupendra Maru, President of Shuddham. “It is heartening to see even auto rickshaw drivers volunteering to put up posters in their vehicles and furthering the cause. Even that is ‘giving’,” he enthuses. Maru also gushes about an employee of a corporate chain in Puducherry, who has convinced all branches of the company in the country to participate in the campaign.

But Shuddham’s emphasis lies not only on material objects, but also encouraging people to offer their services, by organizing collection drives in an area, arranging funds, or simply becoming a volunteer at the event. After all, with a majority of Puducherrians expected to turn up and donate clothes and utensils at from September 27 many volunteers will be required.

At the Shuddham Head Office six enthusiasts quickly jot down instructions and timetables, as Maru efficiently works out the logistics of the event. The day’s main announcement, that a Samaritan has volunteered to take care of transportation of all the materials to Chennai, is greeted with appreciation and gratitude. Details and shifts are quickly worked out. And somehow, a mass donation event of this size looks deceptively easy to work out.

“A donation event such as this isn’t a new thing for us. After the 2002 Gujarat earthquake, and the tsunami in 2004, we had organized small collection drives, where people could walk into our houses and simply give what they can,” one of the volunteers explains. “Those were spontaneous collection drives. However, Joy of Giving is a much more organized and a much larger effort. We decided to rent a kalyana mandapam, to make the drive more accessible to people,” he adds.

According to him, donations made for the victims of the earthquake and tsunami were received warmly and distributed effectively among the victims. And Shuddham hopes to repeat that success. “Such an event is important for those who want to give, and don’t know where to or how to,” Maru says. So, now you know!

VENUE AND TIME

From September 27 to 30 you can donate at C. Dakchana Moorthy Chettiar Kalyana Nilayam, 59, Easwaran Dharmaraja Koil Street. The timings are from 8.30 a.m. to 8.30 p.m.

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