“Selfless social service heals my heart with happiness,” said Chandan Kumar Pati, a young philanthropist from Bhubaneswar. On Mother’s Day last year, a group of like minded friends, including Chandan, initiated a social service project to help the needy. So far, they have conducted cleanliness awareness programmes, distributed food and blankets in winter to pavement dwellers and spent festival days at orphanages and old age homes. The group also regularly donates blood to needy patients.
Christened ‘Su-Sampark,’ the group comprises students, job aspirants and young professionals. Importantly, they don’t receive donations from the government or funding agencies but use their own money for their work. Sunday POST chatted with the young philanthropists to know more about their work.
“Last year on Mother’s Day, we went to Anand Ashram, an old age home in Old Town, Bhubaneswar, to celebrate the day with the inmates. That marked the beginning of our mission,” said Chandan Kumar Pati. Chandan is a graduate in Chemistry. These days, he is looking for a job while simultaneously helping his father in running their small family business. Sibaprasad Srichandan, another team member, is a third-year student of Mechanical Engineering at NM Institute of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar. Yet another core team member Palak Sahu recently got a job in a car showroom. Chandan and Siba are from Palaspalli and Palak is from Patrapada.
“In the programme at the old age home, about 30 members participated. We cut a cake and spent time with the inmates. We took packets of biryani for the inmates,” said Siba. “I got emotional when an old woman narrated the story of her tragic life.”
Another member, Sumitra Parida, a professional from Bhubaneswar, said, “We celebrate Raksha Bandhan by tying rachis at deaf and dumb school, kargil road. Before the Diwali festival, we try to encourage everyone to celebrate a green Diwali. When the group members go to attend birthdays or weddings, we gift a small plant to spread the green message.”
The youngsters have carried out cleanliness drives at the BMC Hospital in Old Town, Capital Hospital, Trinath temple premises and Sai temple lane at Palaspalli. They also distribute food and blankets to poor people. “We often distribute food to pavement dwellers in the Lingaraj temple area, Lingaraj station, and Master Canteen. And, in winter, we distribute blankets to the poor. Once we were distributing blankets at Raj Mahal Square when we found a man had covered himself with a big plastic sheet to ward off the cold. We gave him a new blanket. He prostrated before us in gratitude. It was an emotional moment and I understood the joy of giving,” recalled Chandan.
Palak and Chandan continued, “All the members contribute time and money voluntarily. We don’t compel anyone to join a programme. We have a WhatsApp group where we alert the members about an upcoming event. Sometimes we send messages. Those members who can make it reach the venue. Our programmes do not get postponed because of the absence of a certain member.”
Asked if they intend to register the group as an NGO or Trust, Chandan replied, “No. We don’t want to create a hierarchy in the group. Once it is registered, some people would hold posts like president, secretary, and treasurer while others may feel ignored. Besides, we don’t plan to seek aid from the government or funding agencies and so see no reason to register. Seeing our work, some political outfits expressed a desire to join our mission. However, we politely turned down their offer. Many of our regular members may desert us if we are politicised. We are happy with the present arrangement. A few months back, we planned to celebrate Raja with slum children when we were approached by a political party’s youth wing to have a joint celebration, but we refused.”
Su-Sampark celebrated a three-day Raja festival in the Bhoi Sahi slum near the airport. They organised puchi-play, jhoti-making (Rangoli), dance and musical chair competitions for the junior group on the first day, and for seniors on the second day, and distributed prizes at a function on the third day. They installed two swings for slum children to enjoy Raja and provided food to all the participants on all three days.
The group members are always ready to donate blood to needy patients. Chandan has so far donated blood 13 times. He said, “I regularly get calls to donate blood. However, we make sure that the blood receiver is a deserving one. First, we ensure that the beneficiaries are outsiders who are unable to procure blood in this city. Locals have contacts and they can arrange blood without difficulty. Sometimes we feel sad that the patient’s relatives don’t want to donate even one unit of blood. We have tried to generate awareness among the people that there is nothing wrong in donating blood. Our programmes have encouraged some to become ‘first-time donors’ and later they become regular blood donors. During rainy days, we sometimes book Ola or Uber cabs to help the donor reach the hospital.”
The group celebrates Independence Day and Republic Day with enthusiasm. “We celebrated Independence Day and Republic Day at lane 2 near Sai temple in Palaspalli. And we celebrated Children’s day last year with the inmates of Madhurmayee Adarsha Sikshya Niketan in Jharpada where prisoners’ children live. We collect books and toys to distribute among slum children. We have so far distributed toys and books in Bharatpur and Kargil Basti. Besides, we celebrated Kargil Day and paid respect to martyrs by lighting lamps in Ram Mandir,” Palak said.
Suryanarayan Rout, Biswajit Sahoo, Suryakant Mohanty, Prashant Swain, Saroj Behera, Hansraj Jena, Sanjay Patra, Abhishek Nayak, Sumitra Sahoo, Sasmita Makar, Sabita Neogi and Binita Baliarsingh are among the active members of ‘Su-Sampark’ who regularly take part in the social work programmes.
A member said, “Whenever they have time for social work, the members join in enthusiastically. Normally, after getting a job or becoming engaged in a full-time business, they may not have the time to spare for social work. So, we have not set any ambitious plan, but we intend to continue our selfless service.”
Himanshu Guru, OP