A Rotaract club plans activities across 11 avenues
Rotaract Club of Deonar, RID 3141, spreads its activities across 11 avenues of service — community development, professional development, club service, international service, sports, PR and marketing (PR&M), social media and digital marketing to name a few.
Club secretary Kajal Medh explains each of these avenues. The club helps youngsters brush up their skills, train them in public speaking and interview etiquettes under the professional development avenue. “Recently we participated in Project Prayas of our parent club, RC Deonar when the Rotarians had donated tabs to Class 7 schoolchildren in a village. We helped to install software in the tab and to make the children familiar with the device, we conducted a workshop on Canva app to train them to design greeting cards, pamphlets and brochures.”
Xpressions is the club’s long-running flagship project with a 32-year legacy. It is a mega inter-school competition conducted annually for schoolchildren around Mumbai. “Nearly 4,500 children participate in it. It is the most happening event among schoolchildren in the city and schools consider it prestigious to have their students participate in it,” she beams. Competitions are conducted in fine arts and performing arts and a rolling trophy, besides certificates and awards, are presented to achievers. This year the event was held in three phases. The first phase was an offline contest organised in January at various NGOs in Chembur. The second phase was a virtual event in which 15 schools participated. The third phase will be conducted in March for students in Palghar.
The club also organises Talent Fiesta — a contest for the differently-abled children — with the help of 20–25 other NGOs. At least 500 children from across Mumbai participate in various competitions every year. “It’s a competition where everyone who participates wins, because we believe that each and every participant is a winner in their own right. We believe that Talent Fiesta will enable participants to display their creative potential, be it through performing arts or fine arts,” says club president Vasantharaj Govindan.
Under its community service avenue, the club recently provided groceries and other non-perishable essentials to the Maranatha Harvest Mission, a local orphanage. The club collaborated with the district to provide food for the poor. “It was a tie-up with the food delivery agent Swiggy. The cost of one meal is ₹20 and for every meal we donated, Swiggy matched it with a meal. We set a target of 250 meals, but provided 308!” smiles the president.
Every year the Rotaractors visit Jamshed village which has been adopted by District 3141 under Project Zariya to provide the villagers with essentials as per their needs.
The club service avenue takes care of the internal bonding among the members through informal meetings. The club has signed sister club agreements with RAC University Alumni, Sri Lanka, and with Rotaract clubs in Bengaluru. The PR&M helps raise funds and identifies sponsors for the club’s community service and professional development projects. The social media and digital marketing avenues ensure an active club presence in social media platforms such as Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. “This has helped in getting more youngsters interested in Rotaract,” says Kajal, who is into her fourth year with the club. Three of her cousin sisters are also in the same club.
The club, chartered in 1989, has 85 members presently.
