Preety Kumari, a 20-year-old student from Dhanbad, returned to the Rotary Gerry Powell Limb Centre just a week after receiving her artificial limbs at a camp organised by RC Dhanbad, RID 3250, in the first week of August 2026. Born without legs, Preety had hoped the prostheses would help her “walk more confidently.” The technicians at the centre guided her through the fitting and rehabilitation process. Today, she says she can pursue her master’s degree by “walking to college instead of using a wheelchair.”
The club has been running the Gerry Powell Limb Centre at Jeevan Jyoti School in Dhanbad since 2008. Artificial limb fitment camps conducted over three days at regular intervals by the centre has so far provided prosthetic limbs to over 5,000 beneficiaries, says club president Kanav Bali. Repairs, replacements and adjustments are also done at the camps.
Beneficiaries are assessed and measurements are taken at the centre, “following which they return a couple of days later to receive their artificial limb,” says Bali. The centre is supported through donations from five Rotary clubs in the region. Individual Rotarians also sponsor limbs, each costing ₹2,500.
Information about the camps is circulated through Google Forms, which Rotary members share through flyers, WhatsApp statuses, Instagram posts, and their professional and community networks. Posters are also displayed in villages and on autorickshaws travelling through rural areas. Prospective beneficiaries submit an online form along with photographs for initial assessment. “Those whose injuries are too recent for fitting are asked to return once the healing process is complete. Otherwise, the project aims to provide a limb to everyone who visits the camp and is medically ready for fitting,” says Bali.
The club’s latest initiative, Umeed Ki Kiran (Ray of hope) – Free Artificial Limb Project, supported by a global grant of ₹48.13 lakh, has so far provided 213 artificial limbs to people with physical disabilities across Bihar and Jharkhand, and was locally implemented in partnership with RCs Ramgarh City and Nawada Rajshree. RIDs 1180, 1210, 1110 and 1100, Rotary Jaipur Limb UK, RCs Wolverhampton and Wellington, RID 1210, were the international partners.
The club had conducted a prosthetic limb camp last year, in partnership with the Steel Authority of India, through a CSR grant of ₹16 lakh. It benefitted 128 people.
More from RID 3250
RC Bokaro Steel City under its Project Ujala, organised a eye check-up camp for truck drivers at the SAIL Stock Yard highway. Spectacles were given to those who had defective eyesight.
RC Patna Millennium set up Project Mamta, a breastfeeding booth on Platform 1 of the Patna Railway Station, providing women with a private and dignified space to breastfeed.
RC Vikramshila Pink organised Mukaa Maar, a self-defence training programme for 100 girls. The training was conducted by Usha Vishwakarma and members of Lucknow’s Red Brigade.
RC Giridih Couple launched a Miyawaki plantation drive, planting 880 trees across 2,000 sqft land. The initiative aims to create a dense native forest and a green space in the city.