RC Delhi Mayur Vihar supports orphan girls
Whenever the Arya Kanya Sadan in Faridabad near Delhi, that is home to some 70-odd orphan girls, requires a helping hand, it reaches out to the Rotary Club of Delhi Mayur Vihar, RID 3012, for support.
For over 10 years, senior Rotarians of this club led by past president Arvind Jain and others have been supporting this orphanage which was built 32 years ago on land given by the Haryana government. “This shelter home run by an NGO is located in the posh Sector 15 of Faridabad and provides shelter to orphan girls who have nobody to take care of them.
From childhood to adulthood these girls live here, are sent to school and even college, and “some of them have been married too with help from philanthropists, including our club members, who support this cause,” says T D Bhatia, a member of this club.
Over the last five years past president Jain has been supporting this orphanage with large donations to the tune of a few lakh rupees. “As the girls are supported right from childhood, given shelter, food and clothes, education, and helped to find employment when qualified, from time to time our club helps out providing whatever assistance that is required.”
In November with funds provided by Jain and some other Rotarians, arrangements were made to distribute blankets and warm clothes to protect the girls from the biting cold of winter. Jain also made arrangements for a bhajan session for the girls.
Bhatia said that it all began about 10 years ago when past president of the club Rajeev Gupta, who is the CFO of KEI Industries, and his wife Shashi, were approached to help this orphanage. They willingly led the way, got other members of the club to donate too, and “this couple continues to support the girls living here in a big way, giving food, clothes, helping to organise the marriage of a few girls by providing not only the wedding clothes but also gold jewellery such as the mangalsutra. At present 72 girls are living in the Kanya Sadan, and their team leader, who has been with them for 22 years, takes care of them,” he adds.
The Rotarians have plans to make a few more visits to this orphanage to give woollen sweaters and jackets to the girls to withstand the winter months. Already Rotarians have ‘adopted’ many girls from the orphanage and support their education by either paying the fees, or providing learning material such as textbooks, exercise books etc.
On their recent visit, Ashok Vohra and his wife Neelu, handed over woollen clothes and school fees (₹12,000 for the entire year) to one of the girls. After distributing blankets and other woollens, the Rotarians also served food to the inmates. They were accompained by club president Awadhesh Kumar, Arvind Kumar Jain, N K Bhargava, and others. Bhatia said the club has plans to adopt more girls from this orphanage and give scholarships and learning aids for their education.
Other regular projects being done by RC Delhi Mayur Vihar include eye and other health screening camps, distributing warm clothes and blankets in winter for the children of small farmers who do cultivation on the Yamuna banks, along with textbooks and notebooks.
