Sapling distribution in receptions @ West Mambalam and Alandur

Saplings Distribution in the wedding receptions at Nithya Kalyani Mandapam on 29th of May and in  our volunteer Priya's reception at West Mambalam on 31st of May went well. 

We distributed 120 (90+30) saplings in these two receptions,

Thanks to the volunteers Karthik Palani, Hitesh, Aarya, Sowmiya, Avinash, Arun, Surya and Selvi who turned up in spite of their busy schedule. 

Special thanks to the People who joined us and referred us for the sapling distribution. 

The volunteers who are going to do the follow up, the back screen work, of the saplings in these distributions are Sanjay for Alandur and Meenu Ram for West Mambalam distribution.

A Few snaps:

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.

Stepping Stone for a Park

We planted trees and distributed saplings. We also wanted to clean the roads. But, we decided to let the politicians do it. We instead enjoyed a wonderful meal at Ashwin’s place.

Now here are the details of the entire activity…..Ashwin, his family, and his neighbors have worked over years to convert a waste land to a park. They have successfully made the land ready for the park by clearing the land of thorny shrubs, increasing the level of the land and so on. On December 21, 2014, an event was organized to kick start the construction of the park. The counsellor and Panchayat head were the chief guests and a lot of families were the audience. CSS distributed plant saplings among the families and helped the chief guests plant the trees.   

Now, to get the park ready, they are planning to construct walking pathways, compound walls, play area and of course plant more trees. So this is a wonderful example of how we should convert waste/barren lands to beautiful parks. Our passionate volunteers made a hectic activity look like a `walk in the park.'

And we also put up a poster about child safety in a temple.

Thanks to the volunteers:

• Ashwin
• Akshyaa
• Jaffer
• Sai  
• Surya
• Arun
• Mahesh
• Kanchan  

Photo Album link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.878354598863052.1073741866.100000655597076&type=1

Red Drops to the Rescue

We usually arrange for 50 to 100 Blood donors per month, after strict filtration and more focus given to people from Government Hospitals.

But the last 4 days were completely different. There were loads and loads of blood requests pouring in, even after the basic filtrations. Despite the unexpected number of requests, we managed to arrange 43 units of blood. And with this blood, we supported

1. 3 kids.
2. 2 pregnant women.
3. 2 accident victims.
4. 3 elderly peoples.

Big Applause and thanks to Team co-ordinator Jagadish, and volunteers  Akshyaa, Divya, Rathi, Ashwin and Satish Bonthu for ramping up their efforts to meet the crisis :-) (y)

Arvanaipu Team is back with a banging bash - A day with HIV infected kids

We are too excited to share the experience that after a long time we had fun with kids!

As requested by couple of CSS volunteers & appeal from many homes, we have restarted the event "A fun day with needy kids for sparkling smiles on their faces" with the approval of CSS board.

HIV infected kids around various villages of Tiruvallur district were gathered @ Annai Gnanambal Social Service Centre headed by Sr. Prabha, former in-charge of Arunaima Illam, Egmore. Delicious lunch by our caterer Kannan (more tastier than ever), fun filled games & lot more!

There were approximately 80 kids; with their parents / care-takers, a total of 130 attended the event.

Total No. of volunteers turned up: 14
Rathi, Jaishankar, Jayalakshmi, Vimal, Deepa, Niraikula Pandiayn,
Ponmurugan, Sasikumar, Almas, Venkat, Tiru, Swami sir, Charu and Mahesh

Event schedule

• Members Arrival at 11:00 AM
• Kids introduction
• They were divided into groups (Team A-F) headed by 2 volunteers each. Various games like dog & the bone, tail game, story telling, ball throw, singing, etc were conducted among the groups and scores were recorded
• Yummie Lunch (sambar rice with poriyal, curd rice with pickle, egg masala) served at 1:30 PM, followed by prize distribution for the winners & participants.
• Post lunch - A self composed song for kids by Mr.Kumaravel was launched on stage. Kumaravel, a kind hearted person, who himself is +ve, taking care of these kids with lotto positive attitude & energy.
• Dance Talent exhibits - by group of girls for famous hits songs
• Enthusiastic songs by Swami sir, captivated the crowd

Session ended by Sr. Prabha's speech and put her request to CSS in distributing health mix (MANNA) to these kids on a regular monthly basis.

Manna is a nutritious health mix with ingredients Ragi, Bajra, Maize, Jowar, Wheat, Fried gram, Rice, Green gram, Barley, Soya bean, Sago, cashewnut, Badam and Cardamom. Proved to improve the immunity (which is the major drawback in HIV patients); CD4 counts (which is essential to fight against infections) are tested & proved effective for manna.

Suggestions

1. We can fund for buying manna from retail shops on bulk basis
2. We can prepare the health mix manually;

which ever is feasible & cost effective could be finalized... Other details shall be discussed in board, further helping to decide on how we can help them

Special request for immediate attention:

1. Miss Thulasi, 20yrs - 10th pass, who lost her parents in childhood, has a small brother, mentally challenged.
2. Mr & Mrs.Latha (20yrs) 12th pass. Her husband is 29yrs,10th pass & diploma ECE discontinued.

All three need a job for their living (@ departmental stores/house keeping etc... please suggest if you know any). They belong to a village near arakkonam

Departure at 3:30 PM

Biscuits distributed by Sasi before Departure

Accounts

Cash
Thomson Reuters - Rs. 5000
Sasikuamr - Rs. 2000
Swami Sir - Rs. 500
Ponmurugan - Rs. 100
Total = Rs. 7600

Expenditure
Lunch - Rs. 5000
Conveyance to kids - Rs. 1500
Paper plates and ball - Rs. 384
Total = Rs. 6884

To CSS Account: 7600 - 6884 = Rs. 716 (handed over to Venkat)

A very special applause to all the donors for their generous contribution and we wish this continues forever...

Highlights

• Kids had enormous fun, as this was the first time they are exposed to such an event-filled day (as mentioned by Sr. Prabha)
• A song staged by Mr. Kumaravel
• Swami sir's energetic performance
• Tiru's ever green ever loving ever cheerful ever enthusiastic interaction with kids
• A special mention to Jai as he was equally sparkling jolly time with kids...I think he would be Tiru's junior in future :-)
• Mr.Venkat's support in organising groups which helped in peaceful conduction of games/managing the huge number
• Pon / Almas / Rathi / Sasi / Nirai / Vimal / Jaya / Deepa serving lunch without any chaos.

Special Applause

• Ponmurugan who has arranged sponsor of 10,000 towards Mr.SATISH'S surgery, thank you lots Pon.
• To Jai for sponsoring biscuits to all the kids in the morning.
• To Thomson team for sponsoring lunch
• To Sasikumar for sponsoring biscuits to all kids
• To all our senior members and friends who came for the day and shared their valuable time with kids.

*** Note: No photos shared considering the kids privacy ***

We hope you all had a heart–felt satisfaction in spending time with the kids. There are lots more to happen in future… Please stay on track… We will keep you posted...

Kindly feel free to share your feedback, as they are valuable for any further improvisation.

On behalf of Team Aravanaipu, we thank all our seniors for their constant guidance and thank our fellow volunteers for helping us in making the event a memorable one.

Last but not least, we conclude with a special thanks to all sponsors, and our members who have participated in the event and helped the team. :) :) :)

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