SANKALP-IN AID OF DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLE CHILDREN

Dear Kind Hearts,

Greetings for the team Sankalp!

During the quarter, besides undergoing their normal in-house regular training/academic sessions/ therapy program as per their Individual Education Plan (IEP), children celebrated  festivals like Christmas and Kite flying (Uttarayan) besides participation in various other outdoor activities also. These were:

• “World Disabled Day Rally in the city on 3^rd December that was organized by the committee jointly formed by 12 different institutions working for disabled persons in Vadodara.
• Drawing competition organized by Kilol School on 9^th December. Sudhir got 2^nd prize.
• Drawing competition by Billabong School during World Inclusion Week Celebrations. Sudhir & Ravi Got prizes in the competition.
• Sports organized by Bal Bhawan Society & friends Society, the local TV news VNM and Friends Society. One of our children Ravi got 3^rd prize in “Running” at Bal Bhawan Society, Sohana got 3^rd prize in Friends Society sports and Team Sankalp got 2^nd prize in VNM sports.
• Dance program at Billabong School, L & T Darshan Ladies welfare Association and Spandan School.
• Marathon organized by “Vadodara International Marathon” on 7^th Jan 2018 as well as by Sai School.
• Festival of Christmas was celebrated at Sankalp by children. On this occasion one of the children was dressed as Santa Clause and Christmas tree was decorated. Birthday celebration of all children born in December was also done along with Christmas.
• Festival of Kite Flying (Uttrayan) is celebrated every year in Gujarat by everyone with lot of enthusiasm and fervor. Sankalp children also celebrated the same in the nearby Akota garden on 12^th January. All the children enjoyed kite flying, dancing which was followed by lunch and had lot of fun. The celebration was followed by lunch.
• Sankalp also organizes in-house sports for its children every year during winters. This was done on 25^th Jan at a farm house. The occasion was also clubbed with celebrating the Republic Day of our country as well as celebrating the birthday of all the children born in the month of January. All the winning children were given gifts. The sports activities were followed by cake cutting for Birthday celebration and dancing and merrymaking and lunch before returning home.

We at Sankalp believe in encouraging these children for participating in various outdoor activities and performing before large gathering. It essentially serves three very important purposes. One, it enhances the self-confidence and self-esteem of the children which in turn motivates them to learn and do better. Secondly, it raises the morale of parents and family members of the child when they see that their child is not only able to perform in public but is receiving tremendous appreciation from entire audience. It develops hope in them that their child is improving and he definitely has potential to become independent to a reasonable extent. Thirdly, it sensitizes the general public towards differently abled members of our society, generates much needed empathy towards them and leads to their acceptance and integration into the mainstream of society thereby improving the overall happiness index of the society.

We are also participating in Route to Good initiative of GlobalGiving. Under the program, a matching volunteer from their partners “Dentsu Aegis” visited Sankalp from 14^th to 16^th February and studied Sankalp’s activities/financials/resources/capabilities etc. We will now have a 6 months structured program in which they will be providing strategic support and advice for improving our organizational capacities. We are very excited to work with Dentsu Aegis who is one of the leading multinational Company in the field of advertising and digital media.

Until the next report a big THANK YOU for your support to our project. We will be updating YOU as this project progresses & what impact YOUR donation is making in the lives of mentally/ developmentally challenged children at Sankalp. We are also enclosing herewith few pictures for your perusal and records.

Gratefully yours