Observation:
Poverty is not visible to those who do not want to see it. People get comfortable with their lives, with multi-lakh pay packages, and forget about those whose income is barely sufficient for only one meal a day. Such people struggle to survive every day. For them, it is not a question of getting the best of education, or the best of clothes, but just the ability to read and write and clothe themselves. In this fast paced world, we forget about such people who are struggling for each day of their lives. An organization that is trying to keep alive this feeling of helping the poor is GOONJ.
Poverty is not visible to those who do not want to see it. People get comfortable with their lives, with multi-lakh pay packages, and forget about those whose income is barely sufficient for only one meal a day. Such people struggle to survive every day. For them, it is not a question of getting the best of education, or the best of clothes, but just the ability to read and write and clothe themselves. In this fast paced world, we forget about such people who are struggling for each day of their lives. An organization that is trying to keep alive this feeling of helping the poor is GOONJ.
Suggestion:
GOONJ is a voluntary organization working towards making cloth a matter of concern. The organization channelises the vast stocks of everyday necessities-form clothes, utensils to medicines-lying as idle surplus in the urban homes, as a substantial economic resource for the poor in the far flung village of India.
GOONJ is a voluntary organization working towards making cloth a matter of concern. The organization channelises the vast stocks of everyday necessities-form clothes, utensils to medicines-lying as idle surplus in the urban homes, as a substantial economic resource for the poor in the far flung village of India.
GOONJ Started with just 67 clothes in 1998, and subsequently , its work has spread to 21 states with more than 40,000 kgs of material being channelised every month. The credit for this success goes to the many RWAs, corporates, schools and a force of over 300 enthusiastic and inspired volunteers. GOONJ looks after all the logistics of the collection camp right from providing the communication material to managing the camp and transportation of material. It would be nice if residents of sectors / societies could take initiatives, and organize collection drives in their locality, for the noble cause.
As a resident of a sector 33 of NOIDA, I have volunteered to conduct a drive like this. The camp coincides with the Independence day celebrations. I don't know how much of feeling I would be able to stir up in people to encourage them to give few surplus material to the needy, but am glad I made this effort. Irrespective of the response that I may get for this, I can sleep with the satisfaction that I tried and did whatever I could to help the poor.
5 comments:
Its really great to see young people are taking up these issues.
Here are some of things i thought could help
1]Govt. of India could provide better tax benefits for the contributors.
2]A rating system could be introduced which rates contributors on the % amount they are donating and provide them civic benefits like reduced fares on travel,medical just to mention a few.
3]Technology could be used like google adwords to promote contributions for such organizations.Already the one click you do on timesofindia website puts a penny in the advertisers pocket.We can do more on this.
4]Also people are always skeptical about donations because they aren't sure about how there contributions are going to be used.
The organizations can provide better transparency in their work.
Anyone would be satisfied if even his small contribution brings a smile on the face of these poor people.
Thanks :) Your points are quite thought provoking. They would definitely give incentive to people to donate. Probably a portal that lists all NGOs in India, and allows people to register with an NGO of their choice to which they can subsequently donate can be thought of....
Any effort to help those who are less fortunate than us is commendable :) Thanks for the comment. I hope others can be motivated by such drives as well.
The drive was a huge success. We got over two mini truckloads of clothes from the drive. The best part : the initiative was covered as part of a documentary and aired on Young Turks, a programme on CNBC-TV 18. The link for the same is:
http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/video/newsvideo.php?autono=413112&part=1&con=next
A big "thank you" for all those who came forward for the noble cause...
Hi,
You might not know me, but who doesn't know the topper of the college! I saw you in this video (http://www.moneycontrol.com/tv/view_video.php?autono=413112&part=1) that made me comment on your blog. You are really doing nice work. The work you are doing is really respectful. I would be glad if I can help you!
Thanks Jignesh, for your kind words. It really charges us to keep doing this type of work. :)
Also, from your comment, I understand that you too are from Nirma..and it feels amazing to get a word of appreciation from a batchmate after so many years. Thank you once again!!
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