Year 3, Day 7, Oct. 8th

Marriot Chennai, organised a fun evening for senior citizens from Sevalaya as a part of JGW. The seniors are seen above , a little astounded at their luck !!

On this the last day of the JGW 2011, we would like to thank all those who organised giving events, coordinated with others to organise events. We would like to thank all  who chose to share and give. We are confident that the scale of participation and resource mobilisation would be the highest ever and we will in the days to come, begin to measure the success of the event.

All who participated in the JGW, have done so without any overt compulsion, and that to us makes the JGW a successful festival. We will be posting a few updates before we sign off to be back next year. A few images of Day 4 from Chennai's JGW are posted. The one occasion of the year when Chennai's autodrivers win hearts is during the Annadaanam they organise as their contribution to the JGW. They have been doing this since 2009 when the festival began. Marriot Chennai, organised a fun evening for senior citizens from Sevalaya.

Year 3, Day 1, Oct. 2nd

On the first day of JGW 2011, copying below mails from 2 core volunteers of JGW since  inception. They write about the first day of the Joy of Giving Week.

Really excited about the Joy of Giving Week in Chennai- kicking off this morning at Central station with the first event of JGW - Aram seiyu Virumbu (desire to do the 'right' thing), a 7 day festival organised by CIOSA. Today's theme is Yadum oore, Yaavarum Kelir ( roughly translated- everyone is my friend/relative, every place is like my own). A group of 30 volunteers will be putting up an information booth at the station providing people from outside who arrive today in the city with info on Chennai, transport, facilities around etc. We will also be tying a friendship band as a welcome gesture. Hope to reach out to 1000's of people by this evening who will never want to get back from Chennai :-)

Those in Chennai- do drop by, if you can :-). We will be there in the space between platform 5 and 6 from 9 30 AM .

Aarti

 and the next mail from Venkat.

Here's wishing everyone a Very Joyful Week of Giving :-)!

A bunch of cyclists doing between 10-142km launched the Week exactly at midnight, using "human energy" to light lamps around Gandhiji's statue in Hyderabad (142nd birthday explains the 142km). By the time you see this mail, more than 10 "giving events" would have already happened across India. Design For Change launches a book with Amar Chitra Katha today, featuring stories of school children who in the last 3 years of participating in JGW, have shown "I can!". A walk, bike rally and a 'blind photography exhibition' in Mumbai. We have almost 100 events scheduled for the day across India today, 400 over the Week already (v/s 280 last year). 

With such a great beginning, the JGW can only get better as the week goes by. 

Towards JGW 10

While we have been reporting on the various events of the Joy of giving Week '09, work for the Joy of Giving Week '10 has been going on. A festival of this scale, where each one of us can participate, can only be successful when planning begins much in advance. It is also necessary to reach out to as many as possible, both to spread joy and to raise resources. What better way to do this than through the media? We have been lucky that newspapers, television channels, and the radio have come forward to help us spread our message of giving. Again there has been interaction between the government, the NGO and the corporate, which has helped us to reach out to more sections of society. We are confident that this interaction will continue this year too. Meanwhile, here is a link to take you to whjat is in store for Chennaites this year during JGW.
From The Hindu and the Times of India http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Chennai/article482817.ece
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOICH%2F2010%2F06%2F24&ViewMode=GIF&GZ=T&PageLabel=2&EntityId=Ar00203&AppName=1

As the reports show there is a lot of enthusiasm generated for JGW and we are confident that this will only increase in the coming weeks and Chennai will go out of its way to raise much needed resources and to spread joy during JGW 10. As the weeks go by, we will bring in more reports from other parts of the country. Be there for us and for yourselves, to experience joy.

Platters of Joy

Tamilians across the globe usher in the New Year today, the 14th of April, and as they prepare to gorge on traditional delicacies, many also make it a point to donate in cash and kind to their favourite deities and to their favourite charities. One hopes that the generosity Tamilians show today, matches that displayed by the Chennaites last year at the Battle of the Buffet held as a part of JGW '09. As the name signifies, the battle is related to food, but the prize for the Battle was not the signature dishes that were lovingly prepared by Master Chefs, but the satisfaction one got from donating to a worthy cause. An initiative of Mr.Mahadevan of Oriental Cuisines and supported by 5star hotels, the event turned out to be one of the biggest fund raisers of the JGW '09 with over 50 NGos benefitting from the 90lakhs raised. More than 1800 participants paid around 5thousand each to enjoy an evening of food and music by noted singers and the money raised went to various charities. The evening was so successful that the organisers ran out of food and the volunteers had to do without. Not that they were complaining for as one of them Aarti Madhusudan, a volunteer for the JGW put it " What was interesting was that ..... it was the event where individuals, who were completely new, were giving,”

The photo has Mr.Vaghul with Mr.Mahadevan and Suhasini Mani Ratnam in Chennai. All of them have been very supportive of the JGW and Mr.Vaghul hopes that the JGW helps to create " a society where the privileged can take care of the underprivileged,"

These are words we should remember as we prepare for JGW '10 between the 26th of Sept. and the 2nd of October.