Posts Tagged meetings
The Jovial Santa and the Smiling Cherubs…Yes! It’s Christmas Time!
Posted by Rakhi in Party !!!, The Things That Happen..., Volunteer Files... on January 23rd, 2010
“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents.” Espousing this opening line of Little Women, we the maddies of Divine Home, Trivandrum decided to celebrate Christmas with the kids inculcating all its nuances; be it the presents or the Santa Claus. To our surprise and joy, the children of playschool “Friends” brought a lot of goodies as Christmas presents for our kids. (Thanks to fellow maddie Anoosha whose aunty owns the playschool.) The gifts varied from a brand-new frock (which went to the cutie pie Kesiya) to coloring books, sketch pens and what not!
After a mad scramble to get the costume of Santa Claus and the cake, we reached Divine Home to be welcomed by the beaming faces of our cherubs:) The excitement and elation that oozed from their faces on seeing us heightened, when we started playing musical chair .With all the spirits of a game they went around the chairs, some of them even dancing to the tune of latest hit song “daddy mummy”! Since it was taking aeons for the Santa Claus to get ready and most of the volunteers were busy helping him, the rest of us had the hectic task of controlling the naughtiest bunch of kids. Most of our kids are very small, K.G. to second standard kids forming the majority and to quote our VP HR Keerthi who’s teaching in another shelter home, “Kids shouldn’t be this small!!!” 
The children scurrying to make it to the musical chair.
YIPEE!! I got my chair! 
Arjun desperately trying to control the kids while Robin cheekily retorts
It was time for the grant entry of the Santa Claus bagged with all the goodies. Our jovial Christmas papa aka Ganesh came hopping in sans the sleigh. The exuberant happiness of the kids on seeing the Christmas father was palpable from the way they all swarmed near him, tugging at his robe, trying to get a handshake and pulling at hisbeard to take the mask off. And yes! He was welcomed with a chorus of jingle bells . But to our dismay Kesiya and Diana, two of the little ones we have there were so scared on seeing Santa that they started crying. Nothing we said pacified them. So finally, our dear Santa Claus had to take the mask off. Pronto! We got their smiling faces back again. The already brightened up faces became even more lit on seeing the yummy cake. Even we the volunteers had a hard time keeping our hands off it and the rest of us had to practically cajole Arjun and Shasta to prevent them from attacking the cake! Luckily, the cake was big enough to feed all and the kids got at least two pieces.
Yummy yummy cake!
The picture speaks for itself
If you thought getting gifts from Santa was easy, then you are wrong! You have to ask Santa a question before you get the gifts. But our kids are way too smart.They all had something to ask Santa, even the unusually quiet ones in class. To actually witness the true joy in the heart of a kid reflected on his face, observe them while he opens his gift-the one face of his that you will never find fading in oblivion. The kids who got puzzles started doing it then and there. Ranjith and Kesiya adorned themselves in their new dresses. The rest of them were excitedly showing their gifts to us. It was certainly a moment to cherish.
The jovial papa
… and his alter-ego!
Christmas celebrations are never complete without the Carole songs and our kids are not far behind in this also. “I like to be a Christmas tree…” they sang in unison along with actions, with a little help from us volunteers (they couldn’t contain the excitement which in turn made them forget the lines in between).
Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way…
The mad scramble for making this day perfect for the kids finally paid off! Yes! We celebrated Christmas with all its spirits and the kids thoroughly enjoyed it. Usually the kids are extremely sad and at times the younger ones cry when we leave from their home. But it was different that day. They were so happy that day and so contained with excitement that they were busy admiring their gifts when we left them; some of them even didn’t realize that we had left. That day added to those myriad memories that we have spent with our kids.
Our kids – all happy-happy!
P.S.:
MAD Bangalore is all set to Rock ‘n’ Roll!
Posted by Tan in Newsletter V 1.0, The Things That Happen..., Volunteer Files... on July 10th, 2009
The final list of volunteers and the organizational structure has been made and distributed. Everyone knows what they are expected to do and everyone is MAD about the same. There was a small shuffling in the team depending upon the commitment and expectations of the various roles and now, it is all set.
MADness urges for colors - colors are soul of MADness
The meeting last weekend was the first formal meeting of the volunteers and the core team. Though a few could not make it to the occasion, the people who were present showed real interest and initiative in making a difference! There were students and working professionals too, who either travelled for hours to reach the venue or rushed directly from their colleges. The Ice Breaking session went great will good innovative activities. The general overview of MAD and its vision and mission followed by another group activity took out the urge in people to contribute. I was actually feeling that the whole bunch of volunteers available there were just ready to get into one of the centers and start teaching then and there. Such was the ambience created in the small room where we all met. There were ideas flying in from all the corners of the room and it was nice to see everyone participating in the discussion. There were a few people who already have the experience of teaching children or who were associated with some kind of social works concerning little children. Their experience in teaching and dealing with the children, their guardians and families were informative and a learning to all of us for sure. Their inputs along with the words of the President and the other Core Team Members made the session fruitful, informative and edifying.
With the Mentor Training Workshop (@ Chennai) coming up round the corner, we are sure to be prepared well to teach and start our classes in the first week of August. The two centers are already been identified and all talks are done and set now. The volunteers and the Core Team Members are divided into groups and have been assigned slots where they will be teaching. The Mentor Training Workshop has come in a timely manner for MAD Bangalore and it would help immensely to kick start the MADness here. Join hands – come together – let’s share, learn and grow together – I will keep you posted about the proceedings!
Quick Top: You know how to connect to the children whom you are going to teach?
Well, Savan has a great thought: You smile at them and they smile back at you – the connection is made!
Think about it… until next time…
MAD – TRIVANDRUM in the making
Posted by Melvin in Volunteer Files... on April 15th, 2009
A whole lot of vibrant hearts are getting ready to venture into the world of words to empower the future.
Yes, the MAD team of Trivandrum is in its making. The first steps in this path has witnessed triumph.These words are nothing but our satisfaction & gratitude to the Almighty for making our debut general meeting accomplish its motto.
All of us were busy with our classes when the challenge of holding a meeting popped up. Supported by the core team, the preparations were started in right earnest. After the agenda had been prepared, we had to arrange projectors and audio system for the gathering. It was quite a herculean task, as we were with scant resources in the absence of funds.
Hats off to our team which then brought up the idea of dividing the gathering into sub-groups and explaining the concept of MAD with the aid of laptops. Fortunately, we could arrange a few laptops from among ourselves in quick time…
Bingo..!!! the day arrived. Our enthusiastic volunteers arrived. We were not curbed by the boundaries of 4 walls,as many meetings are. As a good start, we all assembled in the open air, feeling the essence and love of nature. The venue, really, was ideal for our meeting.
With a silent prayer, the meeting started off , followed by a talk by the President.. The volunteers were then split into groups and were shown presentations elucidating the concept of MAD. Questions were answered. This was followed by an informal ice-breaking session, in which we went about befriending our fellow ‘mad-mates’ from all corners of the city…
As the meeting wound up,we cud feel the strength of unity among us, amidst all our diversities.Being the youngest MAD in the country, we felt happy and proud that our 1st meeting was a success.
This was the time when we really understood that:
“We’re here to lend a helping hand,
to Make A Difference as we land,
for the cause of a noble stand.”
( PS : I was supposed to put this post a month back.. My apologies… )
MINUTES
Posted by Niki in The meetings from hell !! on January 25th, 2009
MINUTES
Date: 25th Jan, 09
Venue: Jithin’s Office
Time : 10.00 am
The meeting started off at 10.15 am. Jithin started out the meting and the main focus was on raising unprecedented funds and placements for kids passing out of 10th this year.
The following are the order of events and points discussed. ( yup I couldn’t make a more complicated sentence)
1) Jithin updated latest developments regarding MADs long time project of making the whole system ‘electronified and automated’ (including toll free me calls, sms, automated notification etc.). A budget of roughly 4 -5 lakhs was estimated for the same.
2) Fundraiser’s group’s 3 main targets to raise money for was identified as – training, website and expansion.
3) A new system was sough to be created whereby, for the first time hierarchy will be introduced into MAD. Some experienced volunteers will be given the mentor status and a mentor will have around 20 people under him whom he will be wholly responsible for.
4) 3 levels of training that a MAD volunteer ought to undergo was identified, viz, Teacher training- syllabus training and process training.
5) For the purposes of prospective expansion to Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, and Trivandrum (not prospective, definite) a budget of 1 lakh was fixed.
6) The friends of MAD project will now start operating on ‘ per volunteer basis’ ie, each volunteer will induct people amongst their contact who are willing to be part of FOM.
7) Time line given for fundraisers for their different targets.
On the placements side, collecting information regarding the children passing out of 10th this year and locating opportunities for them was discussed about
9) An individual PR, placements and fundraiser meeting was held where various issues were discussed.
10) The Out come was as follows:
FUNDRAISER:
~ Deadline for individual volunteer action regarding FOM fixed for 14th Feb.
~ To get the maximum and final count for FOM from WIPRO.
PLACEMENTS:
~ Talk to authorities of STC, Valsalya Bhavan and YMCA ( 3 places where 10th std kids are passing out)
~ Get an individual student profile
~ Meet on 1st Feb, Sunday with all the necessary data.
PR:
~ Come up methods to implement FOM at volunteer level.
~ Make material for the same, including bookmarks, posters, brochures etc etc… for the MAD FOM kit.
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