Homage to the victims and Martyrs + Walkathon!!!

This was in Dec 2008...

Hi there,

Mamatha, Program manager, Samarthanam too has uploaded snaps, so final updated Snaps links:

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ivolunteer.bengaluru/IVolunteerSamarthanamWalkathon2008#

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ivolunteer.bengaluru/IVolunteerSamarthanamWalkathon2008AbhiSCamera#

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/mamatha.esteves/SamarthanamTheGreatWalkathon6Dec08#

Wishing you all a very happy weekend with some or other volunteering activity.

Best Regards, Prarthana Prarthana UnkalkarHead - iVolunteer Centres
iVolunteer -- Your skills can change lives.www.iVolunteer.in

“We need a massive number of volunteers to change the fortune of our country!” Ready for a rural assignment???

No. 384, 6th Cross, 18th ‘E’ Main,
6th Block, Koramangala,
Bangalore - 560 095
Tel: +91-080-41466568
Cell: +91-99803 50180
From: Prarthana Unkalkar [mailto:prarthana@ivolunteer.in] Sent: 12 December 2008 02:42To: 'ivolunteer-blr@yahoogroups.com'; 'vconnect-blr'; 'iva-all@yahoogroups.com'; 'kilikili_volunteers@googlegroups.com'Cc: 'mahantesh'; 'bineesh@samarthanam.org'; 'mamatha@samarthanam.org'Subject: RE: Thank you very much -- Homage to the victims and Martyrs + Walkathon!!!

Hello all,

I know many of you are curious to see more snaps and read the feedbacks of people who volunteered and participated as well!!! So here you go:

Snaps links:

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ivolunteer.bengaluru/IVolunteerSamarthanamWalkathon2008AbhiSCamera#

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ivolunteer.bengaluru/IVolunteerSamarthanamWalkathon2008AbhiSCamera#

Feedbacks:

Samarthanam Program manager – Mamatha

Dear Prarthana & all the iVolunteers

It was a great event, a huge success, a wonderful day and it was the most memorable Birthday Gift anyone could ask for J You guys were just amazing... I have no words to appreciate your hard work, involvement & support. Sam Family values your wholehearted contribution towards the Great Walkathon. Let’s Walk Again in 09.

A BIG THANK YOU J J J from all of us at Samarthanam.

Samarthanam Coordinator – Jatin

The Walk a thon was an unforgettable event, This successful event was a perfect amalgamation of the dreams of Mahantesh sir, vision of Vasanti mam, Swamy sir, Papanna sir and Ganesh Sir. Which was perfectly executed by all the volunteers and Samarthanam employees under the able leadership of Mamatha.

This walk a thon was truly a momentous day as it not just brought the focus back towards disability, but also contributed substantially for the cause of disability by boosting The National Accessibility Campaign’ to ensure that the problems pertaining to information and infrastructural accessibility, for the persons with disability are known to every one who participated in the event. I would like to thank the following people for making this signature campaign a grand success. Mahantesh Sir for having given us the permission for using this great platform to advocate this noble cause. A special thanks to Swamy sir and Ganesh sir for having guided us through this great Endeavour, thanks to Mamatha for having supported us to the fullest, a special thanks to Prarthana and her iVolunteer team for having gone to each and every individual and getting their signature to support the campaign.

I shall also take this opportunity to thank CIS and Nirmita Narasimhan on behalf of all the stake holders for having aggresively taken up the cause for making information more accessible to persons with disability and hope that they will be able to take this campaign to its logical conclusion.

iVolunteer star volunteer Rashmi K C:

AS USUAL!!!! , another SUCCSESSFUL event!!!!!!!!!

It was a wonderful & fantastic experience which is plugged to my memory album of volunteering.
Just cannot forget the slogans and songs during our walk. Felt good to meet new volunteers, new ideas ….etc
Paying Homage by candle lighting and silence as a mark of respect to the victims and martyrs of the terror attack.
Lastly not to forget the walkathon which gave sense of pride and satisfaction.

"We volunteers have the power to change the world and let’s change it the way we wish to see it”

I Volunteer Rocks …………………

iVolunteer star volunteer Archana V Kumar:

It was wonderful being a part of Walkathon. Not only enjoyed walking but also volunteering. I am also happy that ivolunteer contributed in many aspects for a good cause. I just wish that all the people who were a part of this and also the public who saw us walking for a purpose are now more sensitized towards the physically challenged. So I hope we have gone a little further in bringing awareness. And seeing the ivolunteer band, I few asked about what ivolunteer is about. And so we, the ivolunteer volunteers have also brought in some awareness about ivolunteer.

The stadium just looked so lively with all the little ones, the banners and the balloons. It was quite touching during the homage while they sang was song, then when each of us were lighting the candles, helping others to light it and then when we all made "heroes" with the candles. That was a great idea. Of course, the walk was exciting. Thanks to NCC people who carried the banner throughout the walk and also Prarthana for her all-time-high josh and encouragement and ideas...

Infact, when I was on my way, I met a visually challenged girl who has a sweet voice and had sung many songs during the Samarthanam cultural event at Yuvanika. She being a part of Samarthanam was so excited about Walkathon and started telling about her previous experiences at Walkathon 2006 and 2007 when I started talking to her. And when I met Mahanthesh Sir, he was so enthusiastic about the whole event and the arrangements.

So my experience as a whole was great. Hope we have achieved the purpose behind the event and also made an impact on a small portion of the society.

iVolunteer volunteer Krishna Tadepalli (Part 1)

Good morning rather good afternoon :) :P to everybody after a great event :)… It was great to see you all there.

Why can’t we have an iVolunteer song? When I was in 8th class, I attended a Republic Day Camp as an NCC cadet in Secunderabad. We used to sing NCC song (Hum sab Bharatiye Hain) with full enthu during dinner:). I still remember that josh we had when we sung itJ. Why can’t we write and sing an iVolunteer song??? (During such events???) New iVolunteerians can learn the song in the Orientation session. We can even sing this during our meetings (as an anthem) etc., :) If anyone sharpens his / her wits and pen down one song, I’m here to tune it :)

Not to forget our slogans… Our songs and all… One of the most memorable events in my life :) Hoping loads of similar such events in store, and awaiting iVolunteer song’s script for one for you guys :)

iVolunteer Star volunteer Krishna Tadepalli (Part 2J a brief descriptionJ)

Good morning to you all again. A page from my wonderful life – Walk-a-thon day.

Day started with a teek-teek teek-teek from my mobile @ 4.00 am. Thought to snooze the alarm, and saw “2 new messages”. Wondering where they’re from, I opened them and they read – “Get your id cards and be there by sharp eleven” and “Get candles as well…” timed 1:24 and 1:56 am respectively. Gosh!!!! Never seen a human being working round the day (literally) with same enthu – I thought. Did my daily rituals and started to kanteerava stadium by 1000am. Took some candles and called Amit on my way “Amit start hua ya nahee??” replied “starting in another 20 min yar!!!”

11:05 am reached entrance of kanteerava stadium… let me see how things are going on!!! To my astonishment none from iVol came… He he he I’m the first to reach :)… Everybody assembled and after good round of introductions – a slight confusion where to start. Rashmi and Prarthana started collecting iVol registration forms. Why can’t we have a small plan laid up? All the volunteers have the xlsheet. Why didn’t we ask all of them to bring a hard copy of it? Why to rework again? Let me mark this as learning and now do what ever possible from my side. Somebody came from Samarthanam and told they want some volunteers for Signature campaign. OK let me do that. All of us went inside discussing what to do to pay homage to the victims and Martyrs. Took some pix and started for signature campaign. After some time heard a voice “Krishna keep this money too with you – Make a wish foundation’s registrations” Its Rashmi’s. Again another voice “Krishna do u want to go to the care taking team? You need to help our spl guests in having their lunch” It’s Prarthana. Thought OK and headed there. It was wonderful handling different things simultaneously. Explaining the objective of the campaign to IBMR students and others – taking the volunteer’s work while they’re signing – helping our beloved guests. Oh man!! I can handle several things at a time!!
2:30 and all the iVols assembled at the registration desk. Again bit confusion. Where to give my reg forms?? OK let me write down the registered names of various NGOs. Same thought – Why rework?? Collected T-shirts, caps and headed towards the centre stage.
After practicing the song to be sung, we reached the sands. I took a small sand leveler, leveled the sand and started writing HEROES. iVol ppl put up the candles. On the stage – Sung the song and volunteers started lighting up the candles. I felt elated while singing the song. After a very very long time, I’m performing again on the stage. Good. After taking some pictures of our beautifully written HEROES and tri colored balloons, we opened our iVol banner and started forming line. Out of the blues, WE’RE SHOWING PATH TO OTHERS!!! Great. With slogans, patriotic songs, we completed the Walk-a-thon successfully. Another pix session. Oh God, am tired!! How can people like Prarthana and Ankur are still so much energetic? May be they’re blessed with eternal energy to show path for all the volunteers so that we can also be a part of the change!
Performances from our special abled guests started. AWESOME ones!!! Dance performance and singing!!!
Amit and I decided to start back to home and met a guy Vishwanath on our way. He was at the Samarthanam stall at the gate 4 of the stadium. He is visually impaired and work for Samarthanam as a COMPUTER FACULTY!!! He asked “Can you give me some water?” We went back to the centre court and searched for a glass of water in vain L What Can’t I give him a glass of water atleast? Looking around, I found an audience with a bottle of water. After having that, Vishwanath asked me “Can you do me a fovour? Can you please drop me at the bus stand? So that I can get a bus to Srinagar?” Good God why not!
This walk of 1 or 2 KM is the actual Walk-a-thon event of the day for me. We talked all about life, traffic, Samarthanam and on and on! When asked how your work is – he says ' I am enjoying it'. Oh man! How many of us think like that?? I wondered.

Guys bear with me for such a long mail!! :) It was a great event and just wanted to share my stream of thoughts there. I also have a madness to write long mails… Event is so joyful and wonderful! I cannot forget this!

Yesterday, I went to Samarthanam to dump some lesson recordings. I met Chandrasekhar – stall committee incharge, the one who danced and others. One great thing with them is. The moment they hear your voice they’ll wish a great moment and will ask “what can we do?” or “Have you come for something?” etc., They will respect other’s time and theirs. They will give importance to work. :)

Better I stop here!!!! Again don’t curse me for long mail… hehehehe

iVolunteer volunteer Jayasree Jayaprakash (who shares views of few dignitaries as wellJ):

It’s always been a great experience to be a part of Walkathon. This year also it was very wonderful to be a part of this event which has a very insightful concept behind it. The concept is to create a difference less society, breaking all the barriers that’s assumed to exist for the differently abled and show that this world is same for all!!

Here is view of Nagasekar, Kannada Actor and Director, Aramane:

I was traumatised by the series of events that happened in Mumbai. After seeing it repeatedly on TV I was feeling that I have not done anything from my side. But participating in Walkathon gave me a sense of satisfaction of being able to pay my homage to the Martyrs and all those who laid down their lives to save our nation. Thanks to Walkathon. It was nice walking with the kids and I look forward to be a part of it every year.

View of Shiranagara Kitty, Kannada Actor, Inthi ninna prithiya , Janumatha gelluthi:

This is the second year I am coming here. I feel very happy to be a part of this event. And I enjoy every moment of it. I pray for the welfare of this children and I shall be a part of this every year.

iVolunteer new volunteer Amit Ranjan Sahu:

It was a great experience to be part of an event for a noble cause. For me, the most touching part was after the event got over. While we were returning back, we met a visually impaired person who had to go to Srinagara. Krishna held his hand and guided him from Kanteerava stadium to Corporation bus stop. That 1km walk really gave us an insight about how difficult life can be in such cases. The person is married, has a kid, works as a faculty in Samarthanam, earns 5000 bucks and when he is asked how is your work he says ' I am Enjoying '. I have asked this question to many of my friends in IT and have never got an enthusiastic reply like the one he gave me.
And the energy level of the group was mind blowing. Like Harsh said that the energy each person produces can light a whole city for 7 days.

Thanks for giving me a chance to be a part of this event.

iVolunteer star volunteer Ashalatha Shetty:

That was a wonderful Saturday... I reached the stadium at 1 with Chandra and Tarangini. I signed for the signature campaign then I collected the AB (additional benefits) for the 66 forms that I had sold (I was able to collect Rs 24,100 ;))

I guided some of the visually challenged students to have their lunch. Then we practised the song with Parthana. It was an apt song for the situation. Thanks to Prarthu for selecting such a good song for the occasion. I became very emotional singing that song(chorus)! A heartfelt salute to the HEROES of Mumbai attack! Then started the much awaited walkathon.. with the NCC cadets leading us we were all enjoying the walk .. J And the slogans were amazing! some of them even reminded me of independence day celebration J

The event ended with the superb performances by the Samarathanam Students. That was inspiring as we with all the abilities could not have performed so well. They truly celebrated their day by dancing singing and enjoying themselves :) Finally not to forget the interaction with Vivek (IBMR student) for snacks. J

It was a nice day altogether.. Thanks to Prarthu and all volunteers :)

iVolunteer volunteer Harsh Surana:

An event like that is usually associated with beliefs, determination and desire to bring about a change and that was clearly reflecting in the walkathon held last sunday.

One of things that I couldn’t help noticing was the enthusiasm in everyone. Everybody seemed so determined for the moment to see themselves promoting a cause. If we hold that sort of thought in our mind everyday, Imagine the kind of Magic we could create in this world.

The event can easily be reflected back as a successful one and would give the entire credit to Samarthanam to promote such a cause. I have always believed that there is a component of individual responsibility in individual success, but society had a responsibility to give people the tool as they need to succeed. I felt that event was a tool to succeed.

Hoping to see many more events in the future and being a part of it.

I congratulate Samarthanam & iVolunteer in their splendid efforts to have been able to successfully host this event and to have got many participants and future donors as well.
Thanks

iVolunteer volunteer Shilpa:

Thank you Prarthana. It was indeed a very good event. Hope to be a part of many more such events.

iVolunteer volunteer Hema Madhuri:

It was a very nice opportunity to be part of such an event. Wish to be part of many such events.

Last but not the least iVolunteer Bangalore centre head Ankur Pahariya:

Ever since my college days I had this desire of being a part of an event like a Marathon or a Walkathon , which for various reasons never got fulfilled. So when Walkathon 2008 hosted by Samarthanam Trust came along and iVolunteer got into a partnership with them I got that extra Byte of motivation(which was probably missing all along) to participate. Moreover it boded well for me that it was only a three-and-half kilometres walk as it not only gave me the confidence to complete it but also an opportunity to derive a sense of accomplishment from doing the same.:):):)While the build up to the Walkathon day was very exciting and involving for us as a partner Organisation( attracting registrations, devising strategies for a better reach out to potential participants etc etc ), the day itself left behind a lot of sweet memories which I will cherish and not forget for years to come. It all started at around 11:30 on 6th of December when we reached the venue (Kantereeva stadium teeming with constantly swelling scores of participants which in itself was awe-inspiring) and got involved in sorting out the finances with the assistance of a bunch of very interesting and dedicated iVolunteers. Having done that with a little bit of hiccups here and there but nonetheless successfully (in about two-and-half hours) we moved on to a very touching and emotional actitivty which involved lighting candles as a mark of respect for the people who died fighting valiantly in the recent terror attacks in Mumbai. This was preceded by a very mellifluous rendition of the song "Itni Shakti hamein dena daata....." again as a tribute to the fighters by Prarthana and Co and observance of a minute's silence by the entire House. While all the pre-walk activities with a few iVolunteers were very exciting the actual walk with them was nothing short of an all expenses-paid trip to Switzerland.:):). Throughout the walk we kept on raising slogans and singing songs at the top of our voice with an unmatchable and infectious level of enthusiasm. While a few slogans were patriotic in nature a few of them aimed at spreading awareness about iVolunteer.All these made up for something which couldn't have been more exciting and enjoyable. As everything was a "first" for me it gave me the feeling of a special pride and achievement at the same time. The walk lasted for about two-and half hours but its impressions I believe would last a million times longer.

Hope you all enjoyed reading and made up your mind to be part of many such events. Thanks again to everyone!!! Keep the great work going with full josh and energy…

Best Regards, Prarthana Prarthana UnkalkarHead - iVolunteer Centres
iVolunteer -- Your skills can change lives.www.iVolunteer.in

“We need a massive number of volunteers to change the fortune of our country!” Ready for a rural assignment???

No. 384, 6th Cross, 18th ‘E’ Main,
6th Block, Koramangala,
Bangalore - 560 095
Tel: +91-080-41466568
Cell: +91-99803 50180

From: Prarthana Unkalkar [mailto:prarthana@ivolunteer.in] Sent: 08 December 2008 02:32To: 'ivolunteer-blr@yahoogroups.com'; 'vconnect-blr'; 'iva-all@yahoogroups.com'; 'kilikili_volunteers@googlegroups.com'Cc: 'mahantesh'; 'bineesh@samarthanam.org'; 'mamatha@samarthanam.org'Subject: Thank you very much -- Homage to the victims and Martyrs + Walkathon!!!

Hi there,

We all had a wonderful time at the Great Walkathon 2008, where we were at one end feeling happy for “Walking for a cause” and at other end felt proud to be “Indians” as we were walking with slogans like Jai Hind, Vande Mataram, Bharat mata ki jai and few national songs and of course felt proud to be a volunteer as were also walking with slogans like I Volunteer Do you… Yesss!!! iVolunteer Samarthanam rocks, Hip Hip Hurray!!! And so on and on for almost 3-4 kms. Before the start of Walkathon we did pay tribute, salute and homage to Martyrs and victims of terrorist attacks by a song and candle lighting and a minute silence for gratefulness of Martyrs. The few candles lighted were displaying “HEROES” Thanks to ideas of few volunteers to have put heroes and light the candles accordingly. And of course how could the event get over without the performance by Samarthanam students… They just rocked the floor.

Over all it was a great event and I thank each and every member who made this event a grand success by being part of it… Special thanks to our iVolunteer volunteers who were present for the event and were actively involved past few days to get people register and got around 250 registrations, were part of different committees wherever needed and ya were able to accompany me for devotional/national song at a short notice of 20 mins for paying homage and simply made the event a grand success by being part of it with full enthu. And ya special thanks to NCC cadets who came there at a very short notice from our end :)

Will soon share volunteer’s feedbacks and as of now cannot stop myself from sharing some memories captured, just enjoy viewing them at:

http://picasaweb.google.co.in/ivolunteer.bengaluru/IVolunteerSamarthanamWalkathon2008#

The event proves that high number of volunteers always means more growth & prosperity!!! Feel proud to be a volunteer and change lives in some or other way!!!

Enjoy maadi!!! Thank you very much again to everyone!!!

P.S: Don’t miss future events, orientations, workshops and opportunities and ya to know more about upcoming volunteer requirement join our yahoo group

Best Regards, Prarthana Prarthana UnkalkarHead - iVolunteer Centres
iVolunteer -- Your skills can change lives.www.iVolunteer.in

“We need a massive number of volunteers to change the fortune of our country!” To know more about upcoming volunteer requirement join our yahoo group

No. 384, 6th Cross, 18th ‘E’ Main,
6th Block, Koramangala,
Bangalore - 560 095
Tel: +91-080-41466568
Cell: +91-99803 50180