JGW: Images

It may sound cliched but it is true that images do speak louder than words. While we have written earlier about the tremendous interest the Joy of Giving Week generated in its year of inception, and the impact it has had in terms of raising our collective consciousness towards giving in general, a video, the link to which is copied below, reinforces all that has been said earlier. It summarises what India can be when we come together for a cause, each one of us, collectively, simply to experience the joy, the Joy of Giving.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Nn9JODHC2g

In case there is a problem in accessing this link, please do search for joy of giving week on YouTube and there are many videos one could watch,all of which will hopefully inspire us to come together to make the Joy of Giving Week 2010 bigger and better in terms of contribution of time and resources to those who need it.

JGW and CHILDLINE

One of the invisible but enduring benefits of the Joy of Giving week, has been the linkages established between the corporates, the NGOs, the government and the private individual. All have come together to contribute time and resources, to make a difference in society. The benefits of such a linkage will hopefully be long lasting and continued.

Connections like these are what enabled CHILDLINE to organize events across India during JGW 09. CHILDLINE, a NGO, runs a 24 hour telephone Helpline for vulnerable children in distress. Initially begun in Mumbai, it currently functions in around 80 cities in India. They do need resources to help them going and the organization leveraged the opportunity provided by the JGW to raise resources and to spread joy amongst the disadvantaged children. They organized events for the whole week in cities as varied as Jammu, Gorakhpur, Kolkatta, Mumbai, Ahmedabad to name a few.

In Kolkotta, the NGO partnered with Park Hotel to host a party for children in need. In Delhi, Park Hotel again partnered CHILDLINE and raised funds through tambola and ‘Cheesecakes for a Smile’ campaign.

Ahemdabad had a complete week of outings for children who visited many places ranging from the zoo, to the Shatabdi express at Gomtipur Station to the Sabarmati Ashram. Art and craft, dandiya, drawing etc were also organized for them.

Even the small town of Gorakhpur found altruism was in full strength as small merchants and businesses came forward to print leaflets, donate resources and host tables to raise money for CHILDLINE.

Jammu had painting competitions with the involvement of Zilla parishad officials and in Mumbai, the corporates came out in full strength to support the initiatives of CHILDLINE duing JGW. Tata Tele Services, Mphasis Software, Deolitte both encouraged their employees to contribute and also patronized the cafeteria set up in these organizations by volunteers of CHILDLINE to raise funds during JGW.

But the icing on the cake was of course the contribution of Mr.Adi Godrej, who very magnamiously contributed 4 times the bid amount of Rs17,000 made by a student of ISB, who won that opportunity in ‘Shadow a CEO’, again a JGW event. The student who got the opportunity to 'shadow' Mr.Godrej, had chosen CHILDLINE as his NGO to contribute to. A wonderful way of ensuring that more children in distress continue to be helped, in the process also contributing to many smiles. Spread the joy; in the Joy of Giving Week 2010.

Give Everyone

The joy of giving can't be defined or measured. It can only be felt,
again and again, in more ways than we can imagine.

These are the words used by an enthusiastic student from Aurora College Hyderabad, as he wrote to the JGW team about his experiences. The students of Aurora Degree and PG College, took it upon themselves to popularize the concept of the Joy of Giving Week in their city. Displaying great organizational skills, the students divided themselves into groups and allotted tasks for each group, and no task was considered too small for the students. So while some wrote addresses and stuck envelopes to inform all about JGW, yet others were in charge of collecting material that was being donated to be distributed to various NGOs working for those in need. The envelopes carried a message exhorting the receiver to ‘spread the joy of giving, and spread smiles.’

JGW began in this college much before it was formally ushered in on the 27th of Sept. 09. The students began their initiative on the 19th of Sept. and continued with their collection drive till the 30th, after which the goods collected were handed over personally to previously identified NGOs. The students felt they learnt a lot through this experience and look upon it as a learning one for they learnt to work as a team, to plan, to implement and then to evaluate. But perhaps the most important learning the students got was the realization that real and lasting happiness is to be found in spreading joy and smiles by giving generously and working for others. To quote a student again, “Be a part of something big, in your own small ways and put a smile on several faces including yours. Give everyone.”

Spreading Smiles

When one goes through the enormous amount of feedback received from participants in the JGW 09, one wonders which of these should be written about. We have in an earlier post, spoken about measuring the impact of JGW.
http://joyofgivingweek.blogspot.com/2010/04/measuring-impact-of-jgw-09.html

Is the impact to be measured in terms of resources raised or is it to be measured in terms of people reached out to and to the smiles that lit up faces. This dilemma continues to haunt while choosing events to highlight. Much as we would like to write about all those who went out of their way to participate and make the JGW a success, it is just not possible.

Do we then choose to write about the big events wherein celebrities participated, the media was in full attendance and a lot of resources were raised, or do we focus on the small events in small towns wherein individuals came forward to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate and the reach may not have been much, but yet the impact felt was tremendous? It is the latter stories that touch ones sensitivities and inspires one to also contribute towards spreading smiles.

Just such a story has come our way. On the 2nd of October 09, a group of people from the city of Bhubaneshwar, decided to spend a day at an old age home. They write about the smiles that met them at the home, the sheer joy the inhabitants of the home displayed at their unexpected visit and ‘forbidden delights’ as the food they treated the residents of the home to was called. The visitors learnt of the deep grief most of these old people had and of their longing to be loved and welcomed. As the inhabitants shared their touching stories with the visitors, stories of abandonment, of despair, the latter found that “they had no words to console.”

Did the visitors then go away with sadness ? Not really for as one of them observed, it was only when alone that these old people were sad, otherwise the solidarity and good cheer they displayed was infectious. What then was the lesson learnt? To spread smiles and joy and devote time and give of oneself to the grandparents at home.

Truly a wonderful celebration of Gandhi Jayanthi during JGW 09.

V is for Victory

A festival that lasts a week, is one that is of tremendous appeal to children, especially if it allows them to indulge in activities and exposes them to opportunities they may otherwise be deprived of. So it was for the students of Shiamak Davar’s Victory Arts Foundation. Shiamak and his band of committed volunteers, ensured that the JGW 09 was special for them and for those they encountered during the course of the week. The VAF ensured that the week had something for everyone: animal lovers, health and dance enthusiasts, those who like children, those who love partying.

This was seen in the varied activities the VAF came up with , from a dance display by children with special needs in Bangalore, to a dental camp in Mumbai, a visit to an animal shelter in Delhi, walking the strays , fund raising at the Chartered management Institute to sponsor education of the needy by teaching its employees to dance, a game of Housie in Pune, where winners were taught dance movements when they won a prize, and of course a performance by VAF Yuva students at JoyFest in Ahmedabad . With such variety, both Shiamak Davar and his students must have had some of the most joyous moments of their lives. Is it any wonder then that they call it “The best thing that’s happened this year” , and now that the giving has started, they would like it to continue.

And continue they will every year as they give freely of themselves during the Joy of Giving Week.

Coming Alive

Decades ago, the Bee Gees released a popular album called Staying Alive. They sang:

Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive / Well now, I get low and I get high ... Somebody help me, yeah / Life goin' nowhere, somebody help me, yeah / I'm stayin' alive.

The lyrics came to one’s mind while reading about Akanksha’s JGW 09 event. Akanksha, a NGO working with vulnerable children in Mumbai, to ensure they lead a life of dignity even if they are on the streets, had an event called Be the Change: Come Alive. Held on the 2nd of October, the concept fitted in beautifully with Gandhiji’s “Be the Change you want the world to be.”

Basically, Akanksha tried to inspire “people to reach out to others they would normally not interact with by engaging in activities they are passionate about”, and in the process helping them to Come Alive. Infected with energy and enthusiasm, both the volunteers (357 of them) and the participants came alive through varied activities as dancing, singing, staging street plays, playing with animals, photography etc.

The participants learnt a lot in the process and overcame their inhibitions to participate wholeheartedly in sharing their passion and in the process, making the world a better place, because for those few hours they were all people who were alive and as Thurman says “the world needs people who are alive.”