On Sunday, March 18, 2012, the Foundation arranged for a small group of Essarites from Mumbai to volunteer at Kisan Gopal Rajpuriya Vanprastha Aasram, a home for the aged, at Bhayendar, a suburb of Mumbai city.
The ashram (home), has 78 residents. These elderly people live off minimal pension. The idea of bringing the volunteers to the home was to introduce them to the idea of community service and give them a preview to the ashram so that in future if any of them would like to help, they would be able to do so independently.
For the Essar Foundation, employee volunteering is a key initiative to reach the dream of 1 million hours of community service by Essarites.
At the ashram, volunteers were involved in several fun-filled activities throughout the day that involved dancing with the elderly to catchy 'bhajan' (hymn) tunes, interacting with them one-on-one, singing songs, and serving them food.
Essarites assisted in providing entertainment, decorating the cafeteria to celebrate the occasion of initiating friendship and gift wrapping the mementos presented to the residents.
An interactive 'Antakshari' (a song chain game) was played with the elderly using old black and white movie songs in audio and video format. The activity was impactful since it enabled the volunteers to engage better with the residents, getting them to open up, showcase their talents, and share some laughs.
Volunteers' voices: |
| Abhijit Roy: The visit to the home for the aged was a meaningful, touching, well-organized event. |
| Bhushan Ikhar: The event made our empty Sunday meaningful. Enjoyed every bit of it, and looking forward to more such events |
| Vishal Durdhawale: Thankful to Essar Foundation for making my day special. |
