Wednesday, July 1, 2009
03
I
t wasn’t another aimless stroll thatPriyesh C., then working with Sil-verline Technologies in Teynam-pet, had taken during a lunch break between his office hours.“A government-run school for men-tally challenged girls, situated nearSIET College, had caught my attention.For three-four days I kept insisting thatthey allow me in but they wouldn’t,saying it was only for girls. Finally, onthe fifth day I got in,” recalls Priyesh.Moved by the plight of the children hestarted by contributing educationalmaterial in the form of notebooks anduniforms. His four project-mates, who were equally motivated to take upsome social responsibility, joined Pri- yesh.The team made weekly visits, dis-tributed stationery, contributed amonthly fee for a child’s education andconducted games. The support contin-ued until their office shifted from thelocality and Priyesh got involved withanother institution. But their supportin terms of money, materials and timecontinued and further expanded, andHelp to Live was formed.The NGO is today eight years old, aregistered body and run by a group of software engineers who take time away from work to give their mite to under-privileged children.
Eight long years
Lending help for around eight yearsis not easy, especially in a profession where everybody is on the fast lane.That’s where its Yahoo! group came of great support.“Our core team comprises around 10people and we meet every month, whereas we have around 350 softwarefriends as members, a majority of themactive on Yahoo!,” explain Priyesh, anemployee of Mphasis. Members chan-nelise money and education materialfor children’s education.“In fact, we started our initiative with an exercise of collecting uniformsfor a corporation school. It was purely through word-of-mouth that we reac-hed out and in the process many joined us,” says the engineer.Over the years the group has adopt-ed two institutions – one corporationschool in Mint Street and the other inTiruvallur district. “We collect aroundRs. 50,000 per month as funds from thegroup, but we still need more helping hands to carry out our projects.”
You can help
With the new academic year having begun, members of Help to Live are ona drive collecting educational materialfor the corporation children. The drivehas already begun in some of themembers’ offices, L&T and Mphasis,for example, where mailers are sentasking employees to donate unused/used geometry boxes, water bottles,books and other stationery. But it isstill in need of more and wants all youprofessionals to contribute.Besides, the group is also looking forvolunteers who could lend a helping hand any two weekends.
■
You could coordinate with Santhosh(9840743066) to hand over your sta-tionery.
Visit them at www.helptolive.org or email helptolive@yahoo.com
LIFFY THOMAS
liffythomas@goergo.in
P H O T O : N . B A S H K A R A N
Priyesh, Karthik and Santhosh
BETTER USEFOR YOURSTATIONERY
A group of software professionals is on adrive to collect educational material, old or new, to help corporation school childrenthis academic year. Could you help?
For her
Titan Eye Plus has launched Enigma, a collection of optical frames thatcelebrates the various facets of a woman’s personality. There are around50 designs in the collection, with motifs like florals, polka dots, sinuouscurves and textured temples. It is priced between Rs. 1, 200 and Rs.3,200, available across all Titan Eye Plus outlets.
Leave a Comment