Vegam - 2K15

As an attempt to make a small difference in the lives of special children, Vegam 2015 was conducted on February 07, 2015 at YMCA. It was a sports event for differently-abled school children in which everyone wins.

The event was a great success as it brought a wave of motivation, joy, and happiness among 1070 students from 38 schools. A series of 131 events were conducted for the children and their enthusiasm and spirit were commendable. Our efforts were rewarded by the happiness of the children/parents/teachers and a certificate from the India Book of Records and Tamil Nadu Book of Records.

 In addition to the students, school staff, and parents, the chief guests, sponsors, and volunteers played a commendable role in ensuring the success of the event. Therefore, we take this opportunity to congratulate and thank all our well-wishers.

The chief guests included Mr. C Rajendran IAS, Join Secretary Agriculture Department, Mrs. Professor Vijaylakshmi, Head NSS team Queen Marys College, Mrs. Madhavi Latha, President – Wheel Chair Basket Ball Federation of India and Secretary – Paralympic Swimming Association of Tamil Nadu and Power Star Srinivasan Film Actor.

The event started with National Anthem. Next, the Indian flag was hoisted by Mr. Rajendran, which was followed by the torch run by CSS Volunteers accompanied by a group of Green warriors on cycles. The Vegam 2015 was declared Open by Mr Karthik from India Books of Records.

The ground was divided into four zones based on type of events held and the games were organized in these zones. The games included Ball gathering, hitting the ball with the bat, shot put, 100/200/400 meters running, sack race, balloon bursting, and assisted walking. After the events, prizes were distributed to the winners. Volunteers were assigned to each zone and each school.

Organic food was served as lunch and organic lemon juice was served as refreshment for participants. CSS had lined up entertainment events, such as flash mob, Bhartnaatyam by special children, performance on drums by Prabha. The entertainment section also included a short address by Mr. Anantha Sayanan on the importance of leading Organic lifestyle and a video on prevention of child sexual abuse.  

The entire event was displayed on a LED screen so that parents and teachers can see all the events. The media partner News 7 Channel telecasted live relay of the event from 4 PM to 5 PM.

The Championship trophy was won by Clarke School for Deaf, the Runner up shield was won by Little Flower convent for the blind, and Aravind foundation finished a close Third in Vegam 2015. The cheering Trophy was awarded to Premavasam school.

Special thanks to the following entities for their contributions:

Cognizant - Out Reach

Indian National Developers

Thomson Reuters

State Bank of Hyderabad

Wedding Vows Magazine

Organic Depot

Waxing Gibbous Media

Burndy Technologies

Kay's Photography

Rising Star Outreach

Drummer Prabha

SRM Easwari Engg. College

Aalim Mohammed Salegh Academy of Architecture

M.O.P. Vaishnav college for women

Abott

Anna University - Kurukshetra

Chithirangal Paesudhadi

Ashok Dhariwal water company

V.P. Arumudaliar Company

India Book of Records

News 7 Tamil

The Indian Express

Hindu Tamil

Dhinakaran

The Hindu

We had 344 volunteers to organize the event.

Vegam could not have been a success without the efforts of the 300+ volunteers who managed the show. In addition to CSS’s regular volunteers, we had students of SRM Easwari, Aalim Muhammed Salegh, and MOP Vaishnav colleges, professionals from organizations like the Cognizant Technology Solutions and Thomson Reuters, members of the Inner Wheel Club of Nolambur and NSS volunteers from Rotaract Club.

It was a wonderful event and each one of us had a great experience interacting with the kids.

Birthday Party with a Social Twist

Want to add a social twist to your child’s first birthday?

Here is a way in which you can make a meaningful contribution to the society without any investment. Ananth has set a wonderful example for us. To celebrate his son’s first birthday, he organized a party on the New Year’s Eve (31-12-2014). The twist was, he requested all the guests to NOT bring any gifts and motivated them to donate at charity stalls set up at the party venue.

Following is the post script of the party invitation:

"P.S: Strictly no gifts. Kindly drop ur generous contributions at the charity stalls at the party"

Ananth invited CSS and three other NGOs, which were Blue cross, Tha ma ni and Ekam foundation. Our CSS volunteers reached the place by 6 PM and set up our stall along with 25 saplings. We gave a brief introduction about CSS and Vegam. We also showed pictures of Vegam event 2014. We also got a chance to talk to the guests individually as they visited our stall.

At the end of the event, we collected Rs.4,000 and distributed 3 saplings to the guests. After having a nice dinner, we started from the place by 9.30 PM. The remaining saplings were given to Ananth, which he distributed to the guests at the end of the party.

Thanks Ananth for setting a wonderful example of dedication to social causes. Kudos to Ananth and blessings to his son. Heart-felt gratitude for the other CSS volunteers.

CSS Volunteers - Akshayaa, Surya and Ashwin

Venue - 400' barbeque restaurant, T Nagar

VScribe - Annual Report 2014

Supporting differently-abled students / persons in their study work by recording their course contents, reading for their learning process and scribing during their exams. Team's Achievements in Last one year:

491+ exams

16+ recording books

10 assignments

Vegam

Vegam being a massive sports event for Differently abled students, with over 483 Participants from 19 schools in and around Chennai.

Vegam 2014

Venue: Singaram Pillai School, Padi

Date: February 8th, 2014

The Start and Preparation

Volunteers started pouring in from 7.30 AM onwards. All plans, sketches are already done. Each CSS Volunteer knows exactly what their role is and everyone started working on the tasks assigned to them, with occasional guidance from the Senior members. The Vegam Stand was put up, the shamina were decorated with color ribbons, Registrations Desks put in place, systems booted and kept ready, energy drinks being prepared. The whole ground was very active with the Volunteers pitching in and actively engaged in final minute preparation for the Grand event, Vegam 2014.

Around 8.30 AM, Students, Teachers and Parents started coming. They registered themselves in Student Registration Desk and took their seats in allotted places. New volunteers registered themselves in Volunteer Registration desk and allotted to different teams as per the needs and the volunteers interest.

Start of Events

At 10.30 AM, the torch relay started with our volunteers and the light was lit by our Chief Guest "Paalam" Kalyanasundaram Ayyaa.

The first event was started around 11 AM. Its a running race event and the kids participated with full enthusiasm. Everyone was cheering, photography experts shooting the images with full life, the judges waiting at the other end and carefully watching the kids, so even an error of the order of millisecond doesn’t occur and the refreshment committee volunteers waiting with jugs of energy drinks to give to event participants.

As and when the events are completed, the results are reported to MC Desk, certificates are written with the names of winners, runner ups and immediately the children are awarded with medals and certificates. Things were going exactly as planned in advance. As the events are completed, time advanced to 2 PM and all the events are halted for Lunch.

Pure Organic Lunch

The special feature of this Vegam Lunch its almost pure Organic. Starting from Salt, Rice to Vegetables and other ingredients, everything is carefully handpicked to be organic items from various states and even other countries. Yes, Organic Asafoetida was imported from Afghanistan. Its just organic and healthy, but the taste was splendid, that everyone had several rounds of Sambar rice. Big applause goes to Organic Depot for providing everyone with special Organic Food for the day.

After Lunch and relaxation, the events restarted around 3 PM. 4 track of events were happening at a time and there seems to be very little idle place in that enormous ground. The Sun’s heat couldn’t do anything to us. The energy level, the enthusiasm of the kids and Volunteers were soooo high that the Sun itself felt the heat from Vegam.

Closing

The events neared closing by 5 PM and the events were officially closed by inspiring, motivational speech by the School Principal, who supported us by providing the Ground for Vegam 2014.

Prizes for individual events are given now and then and Its time for bigger awards, “The Overall Champion” and “The best cheering team”.

After much hype and tension, the Overall Champion award was given to “NIEPMD, Muttukadu”, for they topped all Gold, Silver and Bronze than the other schools. The runner up for Overall Champion was given to "Premavasam School, Girugambakkam" And the best cheering Team award was given to “Premavasam School, Girugambakkam“.

Overall Vegam 2014 was a grand success. Thanks to the Volunteers, Donors, School and the children. Its been just a month since we conducted Vegam 2014 and we are already looking forward to Vegam 2015.

This table summarizes the achievements of each school that participated in Vegam 2014:

No	School Name	Total Of Points	Gold	Silver	Bronze
1	NIEPMD, MUTTUKADU	530	16	20	18
2	PREMAVASAM, GIRUGAMBAKKAM	295	9	11	10
3	LITTLE HEARTS, SHOLINGANALLUR	250	13	4	3
4	ASHA SPECIAL SCHOOL, EGMORE	225	8	8	5
5	SPASTIC SOCIETY, OLD WASHERMANPET	135	5	4	4
6	SPASTIC SOCEITY, TARAMANI	135	5	4	4
7	ARVIND FOUNDATION, K.K.NAGAR	110	3	4	5
8	SPASTIC SOCEITY, AYANAVARAM	110	2	6	4
9	VISHWAS SPECIAL SCHOOL, KILPAUK	90	3	3	3
10	MEENAKSHI MATRICULATION HR SEC SCHOOL	85	3	3	2
11	VIJAY HUMAN SERVICES, K.K. NAGAR	80	4	1	2
12	VIJAY HUMAN SERVICES, MYLAPORE	30	2
13	SSA Chetpet	30	1	1	1
14	KUMARAN SPECIAL SCHOOL, ENNORE	25		2	1
15	SSA THIRU VI KA (4th Zone)	25	1	1
16	HOPE SPECIAL SCHOOL, AMBATTUR	20	1		1
17	MANASA SPECIAL SCHOOL, PERUNGUDI	20		1	2
18	ATHICHUDY ADYAR	15	1
19	ATHICHUDY, ADYAR	5			1

Limca Record

Another highlight of Vegam is that it is nominated for Limca Records for holding maximum number of Events in a Single day for the differently abled.

Facts and Figures

1. 19 Schools in and around Chennai.
2. 483 Participants
3. 180+ Volunteers
4. 200 Parents, Teachers and Caretakers
5. 73 Events
6. 216 Medals given
7. Overall Expenses 82,676 INR
8. Donations Collected 1,14,400 INR

Volunteers

Full credits for the grand success of Vegam 2014 goes one and only to the dedicated volunteers...

1. Cheering team (Master. Varun (Rathi's son), Venkat's amma & appa)
2. Feedback/suggestions (Pazhanidurai sir, Balasubramanian sir, Swami sir)
3. Photographs/videos (Sruthi, Lakshmi Narayanan, Satish bonthu, Saravanan)
4. Parking (Aadhiseshan)
5. Transport (Anand)
6. Volunteer registration desk (Harshini, Nagappan, Ishwarya, Nandani, Tamil Selvi)
7. Student Registration desk (Pavithra, Lalitha, Haritha, Aarya, Almas)
8. MC desk/certificate (Rathi, Sudhakar, Narayanan sir, Mahesh, Prithvi, Sathish Kumar)
9. Water/Health drink team (Saiyasodharan, Suryaprasad, Thanigaivel, Alagappan, Dinesh, Nivaas, Shravan, Sathya sir, Bala mam, Banu Prakash)
10. Food team (Sasikumar, Anand, Paul, Sruthi)
11. Events Organisers (Jai Sankar, Charu, Venkat, Haribabu, Lakshmanan, Bala mam, Ponmurugan, Tirupathaiah, Gayathri, Raghav, Era Karthik, Ishwarya, Lakshmi Priya, Thilak)
12. Sanitary Help (Ashwin)

Outside Support - Volunteers

More than CSS volunteers, volunteer’s support from other organisations proved very helpful in terms of Volunteer strength. They are

1. The Contingent
2. Cognizant Technology Solutions
3. Thomson Reuters
4. Orchid chemicals
5. SRM college students
6. Sathyabama college
7. Women's christian college
8. Ashok Leyland
9. Healthy family fitness centre
10. Smile Web Radio
11. Many more individuals on their own interest (via from Facebook & "The Hindu")

Outside Support - Monetary

Special thanks to following organisations for their generous monetary supports

1. Cognizant Technology Solutions
2. Sruthi Lakshman
3. Chakrawarthy
4. Thomson Reuters
5. Britto
6. Balakannan
7. Sivakumar
8. Bala Sankar
9. Jaganya
10. Premkumar
11. Meeta Asthana
12. Mahesh
13. Nagappan
14. Mahesh
15. Vyshnavi
16. Shravan

Thanks to the generous donation from our supporters that we received 1,14,400 INR

Vegam Photo Albums:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.747343781957523.1073741833.560706850621218&type=3

https://plus.google.com/photos/106306275468259124452/albums/5992975631067687473