Charity at Diwali Time

A warm story of charity at festival time came into the office of the 'Arcot Road Times' last week.
The Lalitha Sahasranama Mandali in K. K. Nagar is made up of about 20 women. But this group goes beyond its original intention. It reaches out to the elderly in 'homes' across the city and the state.
The idea to do works of charity popped up when the women realised there was more that people in 'homes' needed than just bhajans and pleasant exchanges.
By word of mouth, the Mandali members gathered clothes, medicines, essential foodstuff and monies from well wishers in the neighbourhood and a new charity got going.
We heard about this venture recently and reported it.
The Mandali received a dozen calls even on the eve of Deepavali and a new set of donors had joined the list.
On the other side of this neighbourhood, in MGR Nagar, a different set of people reached out to the kids in the local Corporation School.
'Chirag' is based in Besant Nagar.
It networks with young, high income and generous executives, especially in the IT business to channel their donations for welfare projects.
In MGR Nagar, Chirag's volunteers took the trouble to understand each student's dream gift for Deepavali and made sure all of them got what they wished for!
Like the Mandali group of K. K. Nagar and 'Chirag', there are many others who keep a low profile and are high in enthusiasm and charity.
As community newspapers, we would like to give them space whenever we can to enable residents of a neighbourhood to reach out. And they do so in their own backyards.
So if you are a group which reaches out to the less fortunate and would like a message to go out to our readers, feel free to write to us or send us an e-mail.
Meanwhile, you can contact the Mandali at 2472 6076. Chirag has a web site - its URL is www.chiragindia.org.