Youth and JGW

Amongst the biggest impact of the Joy of Giving Week has been the manner in which it has aimed to engage the youth. A previous post has articulated the involvement of school children. Today we share with you news about the innovative and wholehearted participation of college students in the JGW in an endeavour aptly called "Joyfest'; literally a festival of joy. Anchored by XLRI Jamshedpur, over 100 colleges signed up for the weeklong festival of giving in 2009. As Fr.Abraham Director of XLRI put it, "In our daily lives, we all help others in our own small ways. But here is an opportunity for us to do it together, to encourage others to do so, and to celebrate the spirit of volunteerism, which is so deep-rooted in the Jamshedpur community. As a part of our Diamond Jubilee celebrations, we have decided that we will make efforts to anchor and facilitate this cause for the city to which we belong… and contribute to the nation-building.”

The colleges were free to organise their own events in the manner they choose, the only condition being that the motive should be to enagage in giving. Hence we had colleges raise resources in fun ways, engage the disadvantaged especially children in activities, signup to be a part of the Vastra Samman campaign co-ordinated by Goonj, visit the elderly, clean the neighbourhood, promote safety awareness, civic consciousness and many more. It is practically impossible to share with you the many innovative ideas the students came up with or to share the empathy and concern the young display to those in need. So we leave you with a link to the Joyfest site where you will be able to read about 2009 Joyfest and track it during the current Joy of Giving Week, to be held between 26th Sept., and 2nd Oct.

http://www.joyfest.in/index.asp