“Do you care to spare some time and thought?”

1.0. Introduction

In our mission to reach out and spread awareness on the various social issues and inform individuals about volunteerism and how one could volunteer, this month we had another wonderful activity committed to spread awareness on ‘Community development’.

 

iVolunteer in association with the HOPE FOUNDATION held a community activity at the Hope School premises to hold the INVOLVE activity for February 2009 – Community Work.

 

Involve-is a string of feeler activities which is otherwise called as a one-off event. This event strives to attract volunteers in Chennai and to raise the sprit of volunteering among already volunteering individuals.

 

Involve objective

 

• Newly enrolled volunteers get to hear, see, do and feel volunteering activities at this event
• A volunteering opportunity open for volunteers who cannot engage themselves in long committed volunteering works
• To create a database of potential volunteers.
• To celebrate the spirit of volunteerism

 

Involve – 2 (2009)

 

This is the second Involve for the year 2009.The core idea was to create awareness on the community and educate volunteers how they can help and pitch in. The community chosen for the activity was ‘Kannagi Nagar’ Community at Thoraipakkam where the Hope Foundation has been working closely for the community’s development.

 

The idea was to indulge the volunteers in some community work followed by an awareness session on how a volunteer can help in a community’s development.

 

 

2.0 Invite Sent

 

http://www.goergo.in/?p=3706&id=3

 

Note : Was featured in ERGO

 

3.0 The event

 

The Hope School is an English Medium School that has grades up to 8^th Standard, students from the Kannagi Nagar Community study in this school.

The day began at the school with scrubbing, painting & cleaning up trash. It was amazing to see all the answer papers and trash stacked up religiously for future use.

Target – 2 rooms had to be cleaned neat and 1 kg classroom needs some painting.

With 10 brilliant, cheerful and passionate volunteers – work moved so fast and work was lots of fun!!

By Lunch,we were done with the painting and the cleaning – HURRAH!Post lunch we heard from Ms.Manjula,the principal on the school and the difficulties the kids go through and also about the community.

It was heartening to see the passion and dedication of the Staff of the school who are doing all that they could  to teach , support and stand by these children who come from very difficult backgrounds abd stand as the strong pillar and watch them grow into beautiful, strong and sincere men and women of tomorrow.

Completely tired and happy to have been useful and absolutely joyous to have brightened up the classroom of the KG kids, the volunteers waved cheerful adieus to all.

5.0 Volunteers Speak

Vinod ,iVolunteer

“Some things I learnt through the activity-

-         Having seen girls belonging to one of Chennai’s notorious slums fluently deliver a monologue in English, I will never again make assumptions about what people are capable of achieving

-         The passion of the project coordinator and her support group was very admirable and I would love to develop some of the some passion in my interests and activities

-          My knowledge of sandpapering, painting, sweeping and mixing distemper was greatly enhanced during the event!

Overall was good fun and very satisfying. Totally worth driving across the city and spending a Saturday there. The volunteer group was a fun group and it was easy working as a team.

I have tremendous respect for the people involved in the project for the kind of work they do. Have a lot of respect for the kids as well, to come from that background and be able to work hard at mastering new skills and knowledge. Hats off to them!”

I hope to make the time to continue contributing to the project in some manner in the near future”

Liffy Thomas,iVolunteer

“I was reminded of the story of Tom    whitewashes the fence from 'The Adventures of Tom Sawyer' by Mark Twain even before I could start my work at the Hope School, Thoraipakkam.

But, unlike Tom who tricked his friends saying that he got the most amusing work to do and handed his job of whitewashing the fence to one friend after another, the bunch of us did not have to make any such excuses.

Each of us caught on to the sand papers, dusters, brooms and paint brushes to give the kindergarten room an all-new look.

This month’s Involve was a great experience for more reasons that one. We all had a helluva lot of time. Above all it thought me about caring and sharing.

I was really impressed to see the enthusiasm in some of the other volunteers. Somebody who never held a broom in hand was dusting and cleaning the rooms. Another person came to the event just because a friend of his could not make it and yet another was keen to show her artistic skills to the children.

The principal of the school also impressed me. I admire her for taking the ‘Road less traveled’ and her efforts in uplifting these children and their homes.

 

Little drops of water make a might ocean. And in this case our time spent brought in smiles to a classroom.

 

We need to spread the word about Involve further!

 

Sridhar,Ivolunteer

As I love to do social work and  I am interested in share my living I am participated in this activity / event, as I was not aware of the iVolutneer, however, I want to be part of this activity. Coming the event, I felt very happy to part of it and had a good fun with the group. It’s nice to have work with likeminded people. I was already involved same kind of events, so I had a privilege to meet same kind people and had a good experience in mixing colors JJ Its good to be part of iVolunteer and would like to involve in further activities, if time permits

 

6.0 NGO Speak

Ms. Manjula Saraf –Principal Hope School

“Thanks a million for all the effort that you took in bringing such great volunteers to the school- a dentist, a journalist, a business man, an IT professional- a great combination. I appreciate their heart to serve and the sincerity in their approach towards a cause. It's difficult to find such people these days. The UKG room looks so bright and colorful and the other teachers and children feel left out.

You all did a great job and I thank you from the bottom of my heart and look forward to meeting all of you again.”

You can view the pictures here