The 13th annual Jeevan Shakti Manch was held on 26th of July.
The event began with an introduction session about Mitra Foundation, which is a complete volunteer based foundation, and its objectives. The organisation aims to help support the education and employment of families who lost their breadwinner to cancer. Though notably, now they are broadening their scope to help the families of patients with other terminal illnesses like chronic kidney disease and heart diseases.
This is carried out by the Jeevan Shakti scheme, where the volunteers not only help the families get back to their feet, they also counsel the kids about suitable paths to choose after 10th and 12th grades. The kids are counselled about various diploma and polytechnic courses, and about scholarships to help fund their education.
Jeevan Shakti ensures that the kids complete PU/SSLC and encourages them to choose job oriented degrees and skill development courses.
The Jeeven Shakti operates by getting references about potential beneficiaries from hospitals and other reliable sources. They assess the family’s needs and appropriately provide support.
Around 200 families have been supported since the organisation was founded in 2013.
A major development has been the introduction of Shiva Vidya Prasad scholarship fund, which is dedicated to help meritorious students beyond the circle of Jeevan Shakti scheme beneficiaries.
As the session continued, various beneficiaries were called on stage to talk about their success stories.
This was followed by the CEO of Karunashraya, a palliative care centre for terminally ill cancer patients which is closely associated with Mitra Foundation, to share his valuable thoughts.
A separate session was conducted to introduce potential future volunteers to the works of the organisation and the role they may play if they chose to join the foundation. The pool of enthusiastic candidates included men, women as well as students, all of them equally eager to work towards creating a change.
This was followed by cultural events for all the kids. They danced joyously on the stage, spoke about their likes and dislikes, and played games until everyone had a smile etched to their face. Everyone then gathered to take a group photo on the stage.
Some past beneficiaries who are now financially independent were interviewed by the volunteers amid all this, to share their success stories with the world.
The cultural events then came to an end. All the families received a gift and everyone proceeded to have sumptuous lunch after the long but eventful day they had all had.
The event ended on a positive note as everyone returned to their homes with their stomachs as well as hearts full, with the quiet determination to cause a good change- be it in their own lives or someone else’s.