Tata Volunteering Week II : 9 September, 2014

The Girgaum Chowpatty Beach Clean Up drive was scheduled on Tuesday 9th September 2014. Partners were really passionate for the clean up drive as soon as the details for the clean up drive was shared. Total 50 partners joined for the activity including store from the stores, support center, partners from TCS office and our customers. Looking at the enthusiasm of the partners cleaning the beach, few local strollers at the beach and students from a nearby school joined us voluntarily.

CMC Ltd, Mumbai Beach Cleaning at Juhu Post Ganpati visarjan on 9th Sept. A unique snap shot of CMCite Mr Vikas Karale bringing the Ganpati head from the rough sea.

Tata Consulting Engineers help clean Juhu Beach Post the Ganesh Festival in Mumbai Tata Consulting Engineers’ volunteers gave up sleep to hit the Juhu beach in the wee hours of the morning on 9 Sept 2014. The 10 day Ganesh festival came to an end and the statues of Lord Ganesh were immersed in the sea as is the practice in Mumbai for years. With the high-tide, a lot of the statues get washed ashore. The beach is also littered with debris – specially plastic and wrapper papers. As a practice TCE volunteers visit the beach to clean the debris, working with the municipal authorities post the immersion of idols at the end of the festival. This year the event coincided with the Tata Engage Volunteering Week II and our volunteers pitched in with enthusiasm.

The day began at 3 am for the volunteers who car-pooled from different corners of Mumbai to arrive at Juhu Beach. The cleaning activity began at 5.30 am. The beach was unrecognizable with a huge amount of litter left behind after the festivities. The BMC officials and staff had begun the clean-up operations as early as midnight. The TCE volunteering team cleared the debris and piled the broken idols making it easy for the municipal workers to pick up. As the day dawned, the beach was restored to its original state. School children, corporate employees and good Samaritans from society joined in for one common cause. It was a good amount of back breaking working as huge idols had to be picked up from the shores. But it was indeed a rewarding exercise for the team to contribute their bit for the benefit of society.

Sukh karta dukhharta Varta vighnachi,
Noorvi poorvi prem krupya jayachi
Sarwangi sundar utishendu rachi,
Kanthi jhalke maad mukhta
padhanchi Jai dev jai dev Jai mangal murti,
Darshan marte maan kamana purti
Jai dev Jai dev

It is that time of the year again when we have to bid farewell to our dear Lord Ganesh, the giver of Joy and remover of all sorrows and obstacles in life. The One who spreads love everywhere as his blessing.

But are we worthy of this love? The macabre sight on the beaches after the Visarjan day proves otherwise with disjointed and broken arms, legs and body of Ganesh idols made of Plaster Of Paris(POP) lying everywhere. It evokes a feeling that somebody has dumped the dead bodies of his parents on the beaches.

We cannot bear to see our beloved God being left in such a manner by his misinformed and misguided worshippers. What can we do? 9th September is the start of Pitripaksh, when we pray not only for the departed souls of our ancestors but also for deceased people who have no relatives to remember them. So till the time our Pop culture generation is not enlightened about the toxic effects - both spiritual and environmental - of using idols made of POP and start using clay idols which can get easily dissolved in water, it is our supreme duty to ensure that Ganpati Bappa does not lie forlornly on the shores like a father abandoned by his ignorant children.

So let us all from TATA group along with TCS Maitree Mumbai Ecology Club come together in this “Volunteering Week” and give a proper farewell to the king of our hearts, by cleaning up the Juhu beach on 9th September 2014.

Ganpati Bappa Morya, Pudcha varshi lavkar ya !!!!!

Conducted Career workshop in Government School, Nadergul, Hyderabad which explains about various career opportunities available after 10th.

Around 30 employees and their family members from various Tata Group Cos. joined hands with EFI NGO to help clean the Kapra Lake situated in Hyderabad

Tata Chemical's employees and family members volunteered in organizing Bal Utsav for the children og government high schools in Haldia

Tata Volunteers Participated in Operation Smile Ningde Mission

Tata Volunteering Week was launched by Tata Engage to commemorate the 175th birth anniversary of the Founder of Tata Group, Jamsetji Tata. Tata Volunteering Week is aimed to create an enabling environment for Tata employees worldwide to volunteer.

The chairman of Tata group, Cyrus P. Mistry announced that Tata Volunteering Week II commenced on September 5th 2014, and he encouraged all Tata employees to help make Tata Volunteering Week II a success by dedicating their time, energy and passion. In early September, 4 Tata employees from Tata Sons Beijing office and TCS Shanghai participated in “2014 Mindong international operation smile public activity”, which is jointly organized by Fu’an Federation of the disabled, Ningde Mindong Hospital and Operation Smile China.

98 patients with cleft lip and palate received examinations and 59 of them were received free operations. Tata volunteers entered the OR Room, Wards and Child-life wards to provide the translation service and other relevant assistances. They showed their professional knowledge, and made the dedications from time to time, as to ensure the best quality of voluntary service.

The maitree and CSR head of Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) China Region, Lumin Wu said：” Holding their little hands and watching their nice smiles, it looks they are as same as other normal kids. But they may suffer some discrimination before, even some of them had been abandoned by their natural parents, and now they need to experience the surgery pain and the different life because of their imperfect body. At the same time, they are also lucky. They have been focused by the non-profit organization (Operation smile mission), enterprise and other warm hearted community members. With the helps, they got the free operations. Hopefully, they will have the true happiness smile and normal life as other common kids in future. Be one of the volunteers, it is very tired and fully occupied during the whole mission, but it is still excited and pleased in our heart because we know what we are doing can help them for the life change.”

From 2009, over 70 volunteers from various Tata companies participated in more than 11 Operation Smile missions programs in Shandong, Chongqing, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangdong, Henan and Hebei provinces. A total of over 800 patients with cleft lip and palate benefited from these initiatives.

Lake cleaning drive by TCL Hyderabad volunteers

Tuesday, 9th September 2014 saw the TSPDL Kolkata volunteers travel to a training centre at Baruipur. Beneficiaries were a talented bunch of marginalized youth from Anudip Foundation. Volunteers started by an ice-breaking session followed by mock interviews in groups and computer skill tests for all the beneficiaries. The visit ended by a Feedback session with the candidates wherein the overall feedback about their preparedness for professional interviews and grooming were shared in detail along with tips on how to improve further. Scores were also shared with their trainers so as to equip them better. Goodies were then distributed amongst all which brought a smile on their faces. They cheered for the volunteers thanking for the visit. Let us do it again!

team of Vivanta by Taj Aurangabad Visited PACE Centre Aurangabad on September 9, 2014 to share the knowledge to the Underprivileged students of PACE centre. Executive Housekeeper, Mr. Subhadeep Chaterjee spoke to the students on personal hygience and gooming standards on an organization as hygine is way of line. Security Incharge, Mr. Prasad Asolkar, explained the industrial behavior and work culture in an organization which focused to address the issues faced by PACE Students post their placement. Manager-Human Resources, Prakash Chand took a seesion on Food Safety and Food Hygiene. All above activies were followed by some entertainment activities. Some students sang melodious and patriotic songs which touched everyone's heart. Approximately 200 children were Beneficiaries of this activity.

Tata Metaliks- Ratna Sinha Employee Volunteerism was launched on 1st April,2014. However, the EV week 1 and now 11 has been great booster to give further thrust. On 5th September, 2014, we had 'kick off' of the EV II week with great fan fare. All of us collected at the Auditorium and once again announced on the schedule for the week. Caps and badges were distributed. Our MD Mr. Sanjeev Paul explained how volunteering would help us and it need to be done selflessly. He further encouraged us to continue the good work we were doing. Our Union Secretary too was invited to share his thoughts. So the week is on with our planned initiatives... so far so good :)

Mjunction Employees participated in conducting Ice Breaker Games and Quiz contest for the children of All Children Together Trust at Lake gardens Kolkata. The smiles and the bright faces at the end of program were priceless.

In regard to celebrate the “TATA VOLUNTEERING WEEK”, from 5th onwards, we at MEMW got connected to “King George V Memorial, Anand Niketan, a home for the Destitute.
To make familiar with this organisation we can say that this organization was established in 1938 under a trust formed by H. E. Governor of erstwhile Bombay State. It is registered under Bombay Public Trust Act 1950 under Reg. No. E-1207(B) in the year 1956.
The Board of trustees is formed by 8 nominees of H.E. the Governor of Maharashtra, 7 nominees of Brihanmumbai Mahanagarpalika, 1 Nominee of Govt. of Maharashtra and Co- opted Members.
The main object of the Institution is to take care of handicapped and infirm persons and to conduct the activities for needy, underprivileged sections of the society and also the rehabilitation of these persons. Here handicapped, infirm patients from 3 major hospitals of Brihanmumbai Mahanagar Palika i. e. BYL Nair Ch. Hospital, K.E. M. Hospital & L. T. M.G. (Sion) Hospital are looked after. They are transferred by Medical Social Workers of the above hospitals to infirmary. During their period of stay in Infirmary we provide them Shelter, Cloths, Milk, Tea, Breakfast, Food, Medicines, Games, T. V. Facilities etc. The infirmary is open for all communities without any restrictions on caste or creed. At present, they have 3 wards one for ladies and two for gents. Total 65 inmates in all under their shelter.
The team from MEMW, were fortunate enough to visit this organisation on 9th 2014, and spent time with all the 65 inmates to volunteer different activities at the organisation. Most of them were Sr. Citizens, as older people are vulnerable to social isolation/loneliness, the activities which we conducted brought inmense smile on their faces, which was our main objective.
To begin with, the warden of the organisation briefed us with the institution – Introduction session, following which we played some old hindi songs of the sixties and seventies. All the Sr. Citizens were dancing and humming on the tunes of the songs. A drawing board game was organised (Bindi and Moustache game). All the inmates enjoyed the game Snacks and Himalayan water bottles were distributed to all the inmates.
All the inmates were given Presents and the team MEMW donated Laundry Bags and Plastic Bathroom Stools. The Wardens of Anand Niketan were very touched and thanked us for every thing, which brought tears in our eyes, but it was a great experience in sharing and spending time with these Sr. Citizens.
We at MEMW were indebted and thankful to ANAND NIKETAN who allowed us to conduct the programme and have no words to express how thankful we were to them mainly -- nursing supervisor Smt. Shilpa chindarkar will attended and guided us.

Tata Voluntary Week organised by Team Kalinganagar Projects, Odisha Morning session : We visited a Anganwadi school at Patranga –II, Jajpur Road, Odisha which was providing primary education to around 20 children without proper roof to sit and without proper sanitation for the students. We were blessed to facilitate the management of the school to improve the condition by providing tarpaulin to cover the roof in monsoon. We also decided to spent some of our time in cleaning and educating the children about the importance of sanitation in and around the area. Afternoon Session : We visited Rudra Vihar (an orphanage centre) at Jajpur Road, Odisha which is a home for around 8 children. We decided to spent out time with those kids and caretakers and provided them with toys, raincoats, emergency lights, book ,crayons and lot of affection. The joy of service can only be felt by participating and cannot be articulated in word’s. So, I would take this opportunity to request all my fellow colleagues to spare some off their valuable time in contributing towards the social cause.

66 volunteers from Estate Management & Civil, High Revenue Base, Key Consumer Group and Legal Counsel departments of Tata Power Delhi Distribution Ltd. visited children residing at SOS Village, Bawana on September 9th ‘2014. These volunteers carried food packets, sweets, fruits and other utility items for nearly 140 kids and spent quality time with them. Senior leadership team of TPDDL also took part in the program.

C.S.R. Activity at Ujjain at Missionaries of charity Mother Teresa Ashram as distribution of Fruits & Biscuits to the Handicaped Mind childrens & old persons. Also planted some plants in Ashram.

Mr T V Narendran is speaking to the community as , "Community connect thru Padyatra by MD Tata Steel in Adivasi dominated Karandih village" & Inauguration of Rain Water harvesting System"