The month of January saw us gear up for the 2011 edition of our annual event ‘Joy in a Box’. The objective of this event is to provide underprivileged children under the age of 6, with educational toys which will prepare them for school. On 5th February, we hosted a mega party for 500 children from 50 anganwadis from the Shivri-Wadala area. There was music, dancing and snacks. Our ‘Box of Joy’ contained toys like counting beads to improve mathematical abilities, a pyramid to improve spatial ability and colourful shapes. The entire staff of LIFE Trust worked together to make this event a success. The smiles on the faces of our little guests were the highlight of the evening.

16th January 2011 was an exciting day for all of us here at LIFE Trust. The LIFE Trust team put on its running shoes and joined thousands of others in the ‘Dream Run’ section of the 2011 edition of the Mumbai Marathon. We walked together to promote our motto of ‘Changing Lives, Changing Destinies’. We were proud to participate in this event that embodies the spirit of the city of Mumbai as well as that of the perseverance of sport. The LIFE Trust team made its presence felt by coming out in large numbers, in our trademark colours of orange and white. Our t-shirts, banners and balloons bore this colour combination along with our motto.

As we all know, financial assistance is what keeps organisations like ours, going strong. The marathon presented an excellent opportunity for us to partner with some major corporate bodies. Amongst them are, Nomura Securities, IRB Infrastructure and Developers, Sabero Organics and Centrum Financial Services. These companies were generous not only with their financial resources but also with their time and enthusiasm. We thank them for their support.

We also had constant assistance from our Dream Makers - Rohan Batra and Amruda Nair, who shared their infectious ‘go-getter’ spirit with the rest of our team. We laud them for their enthusiasm and thank them for their contribution.

The objective of the career mela was to motivate students to complete their minimum education in school and to guide them in their careers. It is really a major issue faced by educationists when a large majority of School children drop out of school well before the commencement of their Secondary education. The career mela opened opportunities to the children and show them a path to fulfilling their dreams.

The career Mela was focused on employment opportunities for the youth in new and non traditional careers spread across a wide spectrum of service and industrial organizations for 10th standard students.

The event was held on Saturday, 11th December, 2010 10 am to 4 pm at Globe Mill Passage Municipal School.

The career Mela featured presentation from experienced professionals form the following fields such as Lifestyle from retail industry, DTDC form Courier sector, Arena from multimedia, Jetking computers, SNDT, Mumbai Police, Fire Brigade, Vocational training centres, Security, BPOs, Early Child Education centres and many more.

The objective of the career mela is to motivate students to complete their minimum education in school and to guide them in their careers. It is really a major issue faced by educationists when a large majority of School children drop out of school well before the commencement of their Secondary education.

The career mela will open opportunities to the children and show them a path to fulfilling their dreams.

If you want to make a difference, then here’s your chance. With an aim to improve the quality of education for under-privileged children, LIFE Trust is organising a rally – School Chalo 2010 – on Saturday, 5 June 2010. Starting from 10:30 am to 1:00 pm, the aim of the rally is to inform the community (Angadwadi and people living in the slums) that any child above five years of age must be admitted in the nearby Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) schools.

In its third year, Life Trust organises this rally just before the school re-opens. The idea is not just to spread awareness, but also get children excited about going to school. The team of volunteers who participate in this walk also talk about the benefits which the children can get at MCGM schools.

In the past two years, Life Trust has received an overwhelming response. In 2008 and 2009, Life Trust organised the ‘School Chalo Rally’ in the slums of Dharavi and Bandra. Then, approximately 2,500 volunteers participated from the community which included Anganwadi teachers, Anganwadi helpers, supervisors and women from the community. Life Trust has signed a MOU with the Dept of ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme) to manage, monitor and support 1,000 Anganwadis in the slums of Dharavi, Bandra, Shivri and Wadala. This year Life Trust is organising the School Chalo rally in the Shivri and Wadala communities.

So, come on and join in with your placards, banners or simply shout out slogans or give away handouts and leaflets to build awareness and excitement among children. The route for the rally starts with a flag off from Antop Hill Church and will go through Vijaynagar, Motilal Nagar, Bharni Naka, Sangam Nagar and the walk will finally culminate at the Wadala Police Station.

On the 23rd of February 2010, LIFE Trust took 16 teachers from 18 MCGM Special School to visit NASEOH (National Society for Equal Opportunities for the Handicapped). This is an organization that works for equal opportunities for differently abled individuals. LIFE Trust, true to its vision of empowerment, organized the visit to create awareness among teachers and parents about the opportunities offered by NASEOH for differently able children. The teachers learnt a lot that day and especially gained from the exposure to the fact that there are so many opportunities, that there is no need for despair.

On the 15th of February 2010 LIFE Trust took 27 differently abled children on a picnic to have some fun and realize that they are also very much loved. These are differently abled children and are part of the Dr. Ambedkar M.R Municipal School. Children of this particular school mostly belong to the severe disability category. The day of the picnic saw children running up slides, balancing on the see-saw and enjoying the wind through their hair as they sat on the swings. There was laughter and cheer as the LIFE Trust team played with the children. Smiles and hugs were the order of the day and our special thanks to the Rotary Club of Mumbai Uptown for ensuring that the children had a hearty lunch and health snack after their tiring day.

On the 18th of March 2010, LIFE Trust organized a special event to reach out to women of Bandra and Dharavi and keep the candle of empowerment burning. Dr Indu Shahani, Sheriff of Mumbai and renowned educationist was the chief guest at the event. Through song, dance and skits over 20 performances, women portrayed the story of who they are to an audience of over 550 women. Our Managing trustee, Mrs Poonam Lalvani, addressed the gathering speaking about women’s multi-faceted roles and wished all present. Among those who attended were Mr Devre, CDPO and all the supervisors of the Bandra, Dharavi and Shiwri-Wadala areas. Mrs. Indu Shinde was the compere for the evening.

The mission of the LIFE TRUST - JOY IN A BOX program was to collect new, unwrapped toys in the month of November and December, and distribute the toys as Christmas gift to the children in the slums of Bandra.

The primary goal of JOY IN A BOX was to deliver a message of hope and aspiration to less fortunate children that will build a foundation for developing responsible, productive, patriotic citizens. Anganwadis in slum areas do not have provision of educational toys for children. Therefore, we collected and distributed more than 2,000 educational toys to ANGANWADI KIDS this year thus enabling developmental learning of children between the age group of 3-6 years.

LIFE TRUST organized educational field trips in the month of December for our adopted MCGM School- Worli Sea Face. We took 540 children to location across Mumbai such as B.E.S.T Museum to show the children the history of the Indian Bus, models etc and then to the R.B.I Museum where the children were fascinated by the old indian currencies collections.

They were then taken to the PARLE biscuit factory where the smell of baking drove the kids crazy and ending at the NATURAL HISTORY PARK in Goregaon to develop their understanding of nature, and flora and fauna.

The program was inaugurated with lighting the lamp by Mr. Devre (CDPO) and Ms. Neeta Khajuria (LIFE Trust). After that children had performed group dances and fancy dress show. The Anganwadi Teachers and Sevika had prepared the children for the same. Children also enjoyed the Magic show. All the children enjoyed the program very much. Ms. Poonam Lalvani, the Managing Trustee of LIFE Trust had also attended the event.

Children had performed group and solo dances and fancy dress show. The Anganwadi Teachers and Sevika had prepared the children for the same. Children also enjoyed the Magic show. It had made the program excellent. LIFE Trust provided snacks and gifts for all kid.

Children’s performed group dances which are very well presented. Before 15 days of the event All Sevika and supervisor did lot of preparation for this activity.

LIFE Trust provided snacks and gifts to all children. Anganwadi supervisor arranged some gifts for all participants of Fancy dress competition. The program got over with the vote of thanks given by Mr. Vijay Doiphode.

LIFE Trust organized the Lantern for LIFE event on 10th October, 2009 at High Street Phoenix. This unique fundraising event was inaugurated by Dr.Indu Shahani, Sheriff of Mumbai and by Mr. Zayed Khan, Bollywood actor who showed their support to the cause of education for underprivileged children and presented encouraging speech to all present. The event entailed song performance by the students of MCGM’s Worli Sea Face School, followed by felicitation of the Lantern for LIFE competition winners. The message was to help support education and invite people to participate in making ‘School Chalo’ the mantra of each child in India by bringing people from all backgrounds on one diaspora be it educators, social workers, experts, professionals, students, general public..

The objective of the Lantern for LIFE event was to raise funds through sale of beautifully handcrafted lanterns to facilitate better education of underprivileged children whilst building awareness about the cause among like minded individuals about LIFE Trust’s Anganwadi project under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS).

Photos by Mr. Ajit Dhamapurkar # 9869017530

As a part of our Bal Bhavan programme, a puppet making workshop was conducted on 15th September 2009 at the Worli Seaface Municipal school. This fun filled event was organized by LIFE Trust in partnership with Mumbai Mobile Crèches wherein over 60 students of 7th and 8th standard participated in the workshop.

Students were taught to make puppets out of recyclable material like old plastic bottles and used papers. After learning the art of making puppets, kids had a blast watching the puppet show put up by the instructors following which the kids got enthused to perform their own puppet show. Apart from the entertainment the children had, the workshop taught them important lessons on importance of our environment and teamwork.

Photos by Mr. Ajit Dhamapurkar # 9869017530

This year we organized an inter-collegiate lantern design competition ‘Lantern for LIFE’ between second year elementary course students of three schools namely J. J. School of Arts, L. S Raheja College of Arts, Sophia College of Arts. The lantern entries from these colleges were screened by prominent judges based on pre-determined criteria for selection.

The winners of the "Lantern for LIFE" competition are:

1^st prize winner - Rs. 3000/- : Dwyaneshwar Pokharkar - L. S. Raheja School of Art, Worli.
2^nd prize winner - Rs. 2000/- : Ayushree Khadtare - Sophia Polytechnic, Breach Candy.
3^rd prize winner - Rs. 1000/- : Viraj Kale - L. S. Raheja School of Art, Worli.

On 29th July 2009, LIFE Trust organized a fun filled day at the Oasis Mall, Dubai for six kids from a small village of Tiruvarur District, Tamil Nadu.

It was the first time the children had ever visited any mall and the biggest shopping area they had ever seen was a small department store in Tiruvarur town fifteen kilometers from their village school. An hour of mindless games at the Fun City was definitely a big hit, followed by delightful food and deserts.

Choosing the right profession is the key to a successful career. This was the motive behind the ‘Career Counselling Program’ organised by LIFE Trust, a registered charitable trust and the Rotary Club of Mumbai. The trust arranged a special workshop presented by reputed professor and counsellor Dr. Vandana Nagargose in Jogeshwari on August 08, 2009. The Program was attended by over 100 class X, XII and junior college students, including the students who failed in their first attempt.

After a highly informative counselling program followed a brief presentation on LIFE Trust’s career guidance project – ‘Ek Chotisi Asha’.After a highly informative counselling program followed a brief presentation on LIFE Trust’s career guidance project – ‘Ek Chotisi Asha’.