In this fundraising event, residents set up food counters in the hall, lobby or open ground of the apartment. Each home cooks a “special dish” and “sells” the food to the other residents/ invitees. All the sales are donated to an NGO or cause chosen by the apartment. Some apartments may choose to run this event as a “contest” to discover the MasterChef in their midst!
Collection of clothes, grains, shoes and stationery to name a few, for a local NGO, orphanage or an old-age home, is extremely easy to organise. Givers also often like to visit the beneficiaries to bond with them. Some apartments invite the NGOs to set up their own collection booths in the lobby or near the lift area, with their volunteers driving the collection.
We all have people in our apartments who help us out in our daily chores and make our lives easier- the maids, drivers, security guards, gardeners, liftmen. Why not take #DaanUtsav as an opportunity to thank them? You can organise an event or a fun mela with food, games, and a felicitation ceremony for their families or even sponsor the education of their children.
Sterling Terraces Apartments in Bangalore organises a week-long celebration during #DaanUtsav every year, with one event taking place on each day. Through the collections made in one week in 2015, for example, they were able to support three schools and three organisations, namely, Awake, Navachetana and Shri Krishna Anath Shishu Nivasa.
Volunteers at Aundh Gurudwara in Pune organised ‘Feed It, Feel It’, which was a special community lunch or langar that would be distributed across the city. Several people, including the devotees, gathered at the gurudwara, cooked food and distributed it to people on the streets.
Rosemary Amle, a lawyer by profession decided to hold a special for the domestic helps in her area as a part of the Joy of Giving Week. Talking about event, Rosemary says, “The idea was to give domestic helps in our area, a fun day that consisted of lunch, games and prizes. All of them were extremely excited about the event.”
Given below are a few links to download #DaanUtsav toolkits and design collaterals.
For more ideas and resources, click here.