Volunteers Voice Out – Anand Regunathan
Breakfast Service Programme at JP Nagar , Bangalore
Article by Anand Regunathan , Volunteer & Service Coordinator
https://www.linkedin.com/in/anandregunathan
If one would like to visit one of the crest jewels of urban Annapoorna seva centers involving all round development of the children, JP Nagar breakfast center in south Bangalore would certainly be among the top contenders.
Post the summer course in 2015, some youth in and around South Bangalore were inspired to start with a breakfast service for the children in a slum in JP Nagar 2nd Phase. Close to 50 children get solid nutritious breakfast along with milk for 4 days in a week – Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The breakfast is served in a public park under a large concrete umbrella structure. The army of volunteers who are consistently using this service opportunity for the past 20 months, work across top MNCs and other organizations in Bangalore.
If one thought this was great work in itself, this would just be similar to seeing the tip of an iceberg. JP Nagar breakfast team took no time to unleash a variety of selfless ideas that would help the children and their families overall. All the children were firstly provided with neat plates and tumblers. Medical camp for all the kids and their parents was conducted. Many children were even provided with spectacles, as they had been diagnosed with eye vision problems. Some childrens’ parents, who had ailments were provided support financially as well as medically.
An important aspect of the JP Nagar chapter that needs a special mention is the educational support provided to the children. Many children in the slum could not pay their school fees and uniform. The volunteers took immediate action to quickly restore the kids with their school education. Dresses and stationery help were also provided.
Coming to the transformation of the children, the mischievous and not well disciplined lot of children started to show a big change in their behavior. While the children at the beginning used to pounce on various goodies that were to be distributed to them, they went on to learn and practice the selfless concept of sharing amongst themselves. The public park where their slum is situated by, is regularly cleaned with the help of the children. The value-based classes taught to the kids tirelessly every week by the volunteers bore fruit when the children’s attitude and behavior started to show positive transformation. As a gratitude, the children, a few months back, came up with creative drawings which gave immense joy to one and all.
If one thinks that this is a one-way path of giving, then one would be rather thrilled to read one of our volunteers’ take on the breakfast service at JP Nagar –
“The breakfast service although primarily is for helping school going children to have a healthy breakfast, but there is another set of hidden benefactors in the form of the volunteers. The volunteers get an immense satisfaction every day in giving back to the society, and now have an extended family and well-wishers in form of the kids”
The children have been entertained regularly with a good set of programs. Cultural festivals like Christmas, Shivarathri, Krishna Janmashtami, Diwali and Holi were celebrated. The children and volunteers played together during Holi, and played gopal-kala (a game where a pot tied at a height would be aimed at holding a stick) during Krishna Janmashtami. National festivals like Independence Day were also celebrated to impart the idea of patriotism.
Thus, when one visits the JP Nagar breakfast center, one would be pleasantly surprised to witness directly the children rendering heartfelt prayers, reciting slokas and practising fraternal love.