Bal Bhavan (Home for girls), is a wing of the Society of the Helpers of Mary, situated at Andheri West, Mumbai. It was started in 1972 with 10 orphan children and now accommodates 100 girls between the ages 5 to 18 years. Our PoB activity for December was at Balbhavan. We assembled at the venue at around 3 pm. We played Antakshari- Pob Vs Orphanage girls. The girls were too good, enthusiastic and extremely apt with the latest songs. Then kids played musical chairs using the gifted Karaoke system and Pob members as their Chairs. After having a lot of fun the kids wanted to perform something and wanted to dance. The evening was a huge hit with the super enthusiasm exuded by the kids.
We then distributed the snacks and goody bags. The evening ended with the start of their musical class where we gifted them 5 guitars and 5 flutes along with the Karaoke system.
We donated 5 guitars, 5 flutes, 1 karaoke music system to Bal Bhavan. We also gave snacks and goody bags containing daily needed articles like oil, soap, toothbrush etc to the 100 girls.
This was exclusively for Street Children. There are a bunch of good samaritans who teach around 300 Street kids daily at Hiranandani Gardens Thane and Nisarg Hall Thane. Their motto is "Privilege to underprivileged" which matches with our objective. We donated 5 cycles to the underprivileged kids who travel a long distance of 3 to 4 km daily for learning.
We also donated long books, writing pads, water colors, samosas and jalebis to these kids.
Bharari has upheld the Indian tradition of "Atithi devo bhava". The Path of Bliss members happily spent time by preparing meals, sherbets, soup and even cooked upwas food on the occasion of the Navratri festival. Members came out of their comfort zone and participated in the singing event, even Rajesh and Sheetal from the Pob participated in this event. Path of Bliss supported them with groceries, curtains, aprons and goody bags.
A completely well planned and perfectly executed event. Helping 2 Zilla Parishad schools of Igatpuri, Bhagatwadi school and Dhamadki school. School kids had a Ganpati making workshop and a small dahi handi and then we proceeded to the Bhagatwadi school where we had donated the projector for E learning of kids. It was such a wonderful gift for the kids and we installed the smart learning and saw the kids using it. They were thrilled with the school bags and goodies filled in it. From there we went to Dhamadki school where we had donated stand for projector and white screen board. We saw the functioning of board, saw the utility for the kids and were genuinely happy about the entire event.
Path of Bliss Activity of August was to support Accesslife with their monthly groceries and gift each kid with a goody bag filled with gifts. Accesslife provides accommodation, food and travel to the poor families of kids suffering from Cancer and undergoing treatment at Tata Cancer, Wadia and Sion Hospital. During the year long treatments these kids are away from their homes, their schools having a heavy chemo schedule and treatment timings. Kids were thrilled with the karaoke songs and opened to bollywood numbers and danced and sang. Path of Bliss members also played passing the parcel with the kids and thoroughly enjoyed the evening with the kids. Service to Society is after all our motto.
How terrible! Throughout your lives your parents shower you with love and affection, but at the end of their lives, just when they have a few years left, they have no one to care for them. This was the story of almost all the parents we met at Smit old age home. The Smit Old Home & Care Center was started in the year 2003. Mrs Yojana Gharat the founder and director of the home has always been associated with the cause of the needy. She was brought up by the home run Mother Teresa in Kolkata and seeing the love and compassion of the saint, it influenced her greatly. Running an old age home needs lot of compassion and grit. It was a shocking for us to come to terms with some grim realities such as the fact that this sprightly lady has seen over 3000 plus deaths-in a span of just 23 years.
Path of Bliss society donated lots of groceries to the old age home and spent some fun time with the inmates here. Today they witnessed fourth death in a the week and it was a challenge to get them out of depression. But as the evening unfolded they started singing and enjoying the Karaoke music and sang lovely melodies. We have promised them that we will spend more time when we visit next.
SHREE MANAV SEVA SANGH is a Non-Profit Organization in the field of welfare activities for the Orphan Children. It has a Mission to shape and impact the lives of orphaned, abandoned, destitute and helpless Children. From a very modest start in 1924, of giving food and shelter to poor and needy, the institution has grown into a model social service organization for all the needs of these children. Bringing out their potential to be a good citizen and lead a useful life in the mainstream society. The urge of social service amongst three humble employees of J. J. Hospital in 1924 saw the beginning of this very Organization. Today they have 140 children in the age group of 4 years to 18 years. Path of bliss members donated 100 bag packs to the senior school students studying from 9th std and above. Evening snacks of idli, meduwada, dalwada, chutney and sambar was served to the children. The joy of serving food is simply awesome and each member volunteer enjoyed the event. We also gave the children packets of peanuts, chana, honey bell cakes and rajgira laddoos. The children were very happy with the food and enjoyed it thoroughly. Thanks to all the members for their ever lasting support!
Sponsored the sanitation initiative in Shivansai Village in Nere, Panvel situated in Raigad district of Maharashtra and contributed towards the Target 2020 to making Panvel Open Defecation Free (ODF) . 600 Million people don’t have access to toilets in India and defecate in the open. 60% of Indians do not have access to toilets. Over 40% of households have no basic sanitation provisions in an area only 50 km away from Mumbai. The Path of Bliss members sponsored one toilet for the family of Arun Girya Katkari and donated packets of peanuts, chana, dates, cakes and laddoos to the Anganwadi kids of Shivansai Ambe. This is a part of Social transformation with empowHER India for the "Let's Build Toilets initiative”. The aim is to eliminate open defecation completely from the villages of Panvel by providing subsidized installation of Individual Household Latrines (IHHLs) to the locals of the district. This will help the rural communities to lead a life of dignity and well-being through better Health, Hygiene & Sanitation. It was a extremely thought provoking day for all members.
The POB members visited the village of Tadwadi near Karjat and donated water wheels which helped the villagers to fetch water with less effort.
Jeevan Asha was established in 1971 and shelters senior citizens from all the sections of society. The POB team spent time with the senior citizens with recreational activities followed by lunch. The elderly appreciated the gesture as they participated in a social event of this nature after a long time.