Addressing hunger
Nothing can be soul-satisfying than satiating the hunger of the less privileged and to see the eyes of a person light up when we provide a meal packet to him when he is hungry. And as my grandmother always says — his soul will bless us. I am thankful to be a Rotaractor to experience such beautiful sentiments,” says Mohanapriya, past president, RAC Sri Krishna College of Technology, RID 3201.
Pasi Theerka (satiating hunger) is a signature project of the club where the Rotaractors regularly identify street dwellers, beggars, ragpickers and sanitation workers, and provide them meal packets and water bottles. The good deed is done in areas such as Kuniamuthur, Perur and Kovaipudur. “We reached out to people around the railway station and the Government Hospital in Coimbatore,” she says. At least 30 people are provided food which ranges from lemon rice, biryani, sambhar rice or curd rice, says event chair B S Badrinath.
As part of project Pasumai Payanam (greening drive) the club members, along with 85 professional cyclists, undertook a cyclothon across the city’s localities to spread the message. At the end of the rally, they planted saplings in a large area. The initiative was supported by the Rotaract Club of Coimbatore User Group and the OTPW Foundation, an NGO that works towards planting and nurturing plants.
The Run for Wheels was a special marathon for the physically-challenged, wheelchair-bound youngsters, organised by the Siruthuli Foundation and the Ganga Hospitals, and supported by the club. “We imbibed a lot from the never-say-die attitude of the participants. Despite their shortcomings, they were exuberant and raring to go at the event,” smiles club president Jayandra Mugilan. The ‘inclusive run to unleash the power of ability’ was conducted on the premises of the Ganga Rehabilitation Centre in the city.
More than 20 Rotaractors and an equal number of volunteers donated blood at a blood donation camp titled Vital Red. Around 170 units of blood was collected and handed over to a local blood bank.
Badrinath is the community service committee chair and S Dharshan Raj, the committee director.
The club members actively took part in a mission to revamp the Government Middle School in Kovaipudur. They cleaned the school, painted it in fresh, vibrant colours, and undertook minor repairs such as providing locking hooks for the windows and electrical repairs under Project Glow.
As part of caring for stray animals, the Rotaractors led a drive to collect old newspapers, clothes and other articles, raised funds from selling them and donated the money to the Human Animal Society, an animal care home.
