New Initiative by the Red Drops Team

What is one of the best service that you can do to humanity?

My answer would be to make people happy....make them smile. It gets much better when you make children happy and smile, especially children who are being treated for Cancer. 

To help the treatment of kids having cancer, the Red Drops team donates blood and organizes donors day in and day out. In addition to this, the team started the toy collection drive. 

The purpose of this initiative is to collect toys from the public and give it to the children who are undergoing cancer treatment. We hope this will make a difference to these kids, give them strength, make them smile, and reduce their pain (during the two to six month stay at the hospital). 

Procedure: Toys are collected from people, unsafe toys are separated, toys are segregated as suited for girls and boys, and then packed into pouches. Each kid is given two toys. When the kids are discharged, they take the toys with them.

We planned to conduct the first event at Adyar Cancer Institute on May 21, 2015. We had got permission from the chief doctor at Adyar cancer institute. 

We organized a collection drive. During this, we collected toys from the houses in Mylapore and from Satyam Cinemas. Few people from LNT and CTS dropped the toys in our CSS office.

We collected a total of 370 toys, which included:

• Small toys-190
• Big toys-92
• Board-27
• soft toys(fur)-38
• Balls-20
• Bat-3

They toys were then gifted to the kids at the Adyar Cancer Institute. Only 5-6 volunteers were allowed to step in and be with the kids. The toys brought a smile on the faces of the kids and volunteers. 

An article was published about the initiative in Times of India. This helped us spread the message among the public and get their support. 

Sapling distribution in reception @vadapalani

On 5th of May our Green warriors distributed 60 saplings at the marriage reception in Sri Rajambal kalyana mandapam, Vadapalani. Volunteers were Gowtham, Magesh, Arun and Kothandapani. Special thanks to Kothandapani for this reference. We have got many personal requests for sapling distribution from the recipients.

A snap from the distribution:

Three Hundred saplings @ Three Receptions

In last one month our Green Warriors had distributed 300 saplings in various marriage receptions.

The Even details as follows:

In J.S.Kalyana mandapam at Vadapalani, we had distributed 100 saplings. The Volunteers were Surya, Arun, Sai, Rathnam and Gurubaran.  

In Valli kalyana mandapam at Vadapalani, we had distributed 100 saplings. The volunteers were Surya, Sai, Arun, Nirmal, Ganesh and Pavithra

Few snaps at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.842026995859822.1073741829.100001575889233&type=1&l=2f29f32237

At the wedding reception of Prem Kumar and Geethanjali in Shri Ramalaya Palace kalyana Mandapam at Thiruverkadu we had distributed 100 saplings.

Our volunteers were Surya, Sai, Nirmal, Hitesh, Rajasekar, Radhakrishnan, Dinesh, Kumaran.

Few snaps at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.842096792519509.1073741830.100001575889233&type=1&l=5c0fac323b

Sapling distribution in reception @ kolathur and Vadapalani

 On 30th April our green warriors Arun, Sai and Karthick successfully distributed around 270 saplings out of 300 in Alexraj's reception @ Vadapalani.
On 1st of May with the help of our green warriors Sakthi, Arun, Sai and Selvi we distributed 270 saplings in the Marriage recption at Kolathur.
Thanks to Alex and Sankar who gave us this wonderful opportunity to distribute 540 sapling within two days to make our Mother Earth Greener.

A snap from the distribution:

 
album link: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.970923406260793.1073741831.100000294298719&type=1&l=5007067283

Happy Birth Day Sakthi

As part of ECG, we usually deliver saplings to birthday parties, where numerous guests attend the party and few interested people take the saplings.

But today, its a completely unique and different experience. Sakthi's whole day, the whole party, the whole event revolved around visiting all his friends and giving them a sapling to make their home green and their air clean☁. He took this day off and the only thing he did today was visiting his friends' home and distributed saplings to them.

Wow, Sakthi. We are honored by your presence in the team and glad to volunteer with you 

He has been celebrating his birthday in the same way for past 4 years starting with 10 saplings and today its 100 saplings 

Wish you a very happy green birthday and an awesome year ahead 

Keep inspiring us, Sakthi :)

Thanks to Surya, Mohan anna of Isha for their support in delivering the sailings to Sakthi 

Plantation in Sharma Nagar school

Planting trees helps the environment. But planting trees with kids helps the environment and the society.

We planted trees at the Sharma Nagar government high school, Vysarpadi. The event started at 9.30 AM. It took nearly 6 hours to dig the pit and remove stones to plant 18 saplings. We involved the 7th standard students to plant the tree saplings and they were actively involved in planting the trees. Saplings were also given to the school kids who showed interest in growing them. Palani sir also spoke to the students about the importance of planing trees and saving our environment.

The volunteers for the event were Arun, Palani sir, Sai, Surya, Sakthi, Mohan Kumar, and Hitesh. 

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.