Team Annapoorna spreads some Christmas Cheer
The spirit of Christmas is in giving and sharing. In keeping with this, we rang in the festival by spreading the Christmas cheer to the Annapoorna children.
Christmas at CV Raman Nagar
The CV Raman Nagar, Bangalore volunteers had a surprise Christmas party planned for the children. After the regular ‘value hour’ in the garage, the usual venue of the interactive class, the volunteers had planned a treasure hunt followed by cake-cutting for the children. But the children had somehow sensed the excitement among the volunteers. As soon as the class got over, they went running to the volunteers, wishing everyone a merry Christmas.
Soon the treasure hunt started and what followed was a cacophony of giggles, laughter and loud sighs as the children went after the clues. At the end of it, the children managed to unearth all the clues and sat down with the volunteers, discussing what they learnt from the exercise.
As the sun went down, everyone huddled together in the garage, which was beautifully lit up by Christmas lights. To the melodious background of ‘Silent Night’, the volunteers narrated the story of the birth of Jesus and His life and message. This was followed by a hearty recital of carols and distribution of Santa hats filled with goodies. A cake, shaped like Santa Claus, was cut at the end of the session, topping off the day on a sweeter note.
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Christmas Fun with JP Nagar children, sponsored by Oracle
Employees of the tech firm Oracle joined in on the festive spirit and spent the day with the children from our JP Nagar, Bangalore centre. Volunteers and the Oracle employees together made the day memorable for these children.
They spoke to children about the importance of Christmas celebration and played games with the children. What’s a festival without food, right? Snacks such as chips, biscuits and plum cakes were then distributed to the children. This was followed by a fun song and dance session, after which all the children were given gifts. Needless to say, there were only smiles and laughter all around.
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Volunteers celebrate Christmas at the Banaswadi Government School, Bangalore
The volunteers celebrated took the festive cheer of Christmas to children of Banaswadi Government School, right at their doorsteps. After the regular morning assembly and prayers, the school Head Master announced that the Annapoorna volunteers had come over to celebrate Christmas with them. The announcement was followed by a loud cheer and spontaneous applaud by the children.
The celebrations started with the full-throated carol singing by the children. And just as they started singing “Jingle Bell, Jingle Bell….Jingle all the way”, much to their surprise Santa Claus entered the scene. As Santa went around distributing chocolates, the entire gathering was entrenched in the happiness of the squeals and laughter of the younger ones.
This was followed by the distribution of floor mats to the students of grades 1, 2 & 3. These children used to sit on the “Cuddapah Stone Floor” and study the entire day. It wasn’t easy as it was very cold. The floor mats will help keep them warm and comfortable. Lap board pads were also distributed to grade 1 students to help sit erect and study and avoid bending and writing using the floor as their work desk.
Cake and biscuits were then distributed along with apple and carrot juice to the children.
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