FundACause

The FundACause blog and Twitter handle (@FundACause) were featured recently in JAM: http://hop.im/uq.

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_prisoners-contribute-for-5-year-old-s-heart-treatment_1283715

Aug 19, 2009

Thrissur: Moved by the plight of a five-year-old girl suffering from a serious heart ailment, around 130 prisoners of the nearby Viyyoor Central jail today contributed Rs 29,000 towards her treatment.

Superintendent of the Central Prison B Pradip said that the draft for Rs 29,000 was handed over to the president of the Pain and Palliative Care Unit of Perumpilavu hospital near Kunnamkulam in the Thrissur district.

Parents of the girl, Ninditha, are casual labourers.

The prisoners, serving various jail terms, contributed the amount from their accumulated wages. They are paid Rs 30 per day for various works allotted to them. Some even contributed their full wages of six months.

Veteran actress KPAC Lalitha was the chief guest at the function held in this regard this morning at prison premises.

The prisoners voluntarily decided to contribute towards her treatment following media reports, Pradip said.

The operation, which costs Rs 60,000, is scheduled for next month, he said, adding, the prisoners have volunteered to raise the balance.

http://joyofgivingweek.blogspot.com/2009/08/does-india-give-enough.html

Does India Give Enough?

That is not a rhetorical question, but one that we need to ask ourselves as we move further towards the Joy of Giving Week. If one were to go by the number of homeless, by the number of starving children, by the number of children at signals- peddling books, flowers, begging; by the number of those seeking alms and food outside places of worship; we would say Indians do not give enough. But yet consider this: our major temples have more money today then they did a decade ago, our Gods are adorned with gold, diamonds and precious stones, in fact there is a temple lined wih gold in Vellore in Tamil Nadu. Is not all this a pointer to the fact that we do give?

We are a country that likes to give, whatever the religion we follow, the majority of us give, both because we want to and also because our religion asks us to. The trouble however lies in this that we do not follow up either before or after our giving . We assuage our conscience by making a contribution to a local NGO, or dropping some money in temple hundis, or collection boxes at places of worship, and feel we have done our bit. We neither have the time nor the inclination to wonder whether the money has been put to good use or to wonder if that was what was needed.

It is important to ask this for the answer to this can and will motivate further giving. We are not just talking about monetary contributions here. Our time, skills and other resources also need to be put to good use. After the tsunami we indulged in what can only be described as an orgy of giving. We gave so much and some of it so unsuitable (esp. clothes, we forgot that the rural areas do not dress the way we city dwellers do), that a lot of resources went waste. More recently, after the terrorist attack in Mumbai, doctors at hospitals in Mumbai went on record asking eager donors to check what was needed before donating. A very sensible and practical viewpoint and one that we need to remember as we commit ourselves to being a part of the Joy of Giving Week.