What are Vakil Housing Development Corporation's  latest CSR activities?

We have initiated "VHDC Bangalore food bank" that is aimed at fighting hunger in the city of Bangalore. Through this we collect food such as raw rice, dhal, wheat and sugar regularly from different donors spread across the city. VHDC cleans, packs the grains and sends it to orphanages, old age homes and other similar associations every week. The project will work with the help of donors, who will be given free jars that have a capacity of 5kgs to fill, which will then be picked up from their homes in due course. Through this initiative we aim at create an awakening in the minds of Bangaloreans on food, hunger and to fight hunger with providing food to the needy. Till date we have distributed approximately 800 kgs of rice. The rice collected was distributed to Apana Ashiana, Sneha Nilaya, Bosco Mane & Rakum School for the blind.    

Another CSR activity that VHDC recently initiated is the W2 Challenge. As part of our ‘Concern for Environment' initiative we addressed two critical environmental issue that Bangalore is facing presently- Water Crisis and Waste management. With the monsoon season around the corner, the month long campaign starting this June is meant to sensitize the people about Water and Waste management.

The campaign was executed in two phases, the Awareness phase and the solution phase. Masses were mobilized to implement simple solutions for rainwater harvesting and proper waste management. Employees at various corporate houses, Schools and Residents were our targets.

Why did VHDC choose to take up this social initiative?

It's our compassion towards our fellow beings that initiated "VHDC Bangalore food bank". Majority of Bangaloreans too feel on the same lines but hesitate to invest time in such activities, so we took it upon us to bridge this gap. We think that every responsible citizen & organization should play a part in promoting such projects. The more the better.

W2 challenge on the other hand is targeted at increasing the understanding about water and waste management. Bangalore generates around 2,200 tonnes of waste everyday from households and commercial establishments. Around 70% of this waste is organic. The balance is accounted for by inorganic and hazardous waste. We also observe that individuals rarely see themselves as waste generators. There is thus no feeling of responsibility towards the waste generated. The overwhelming priority is to get rid of the waste.  Indiscriminate burning and throwing of waste into open sites is a common situation which we have come to accept as a way of life in our cities. This poor understanding of waste often acts as a barrier to introducing proper management systems. 

These are simple but important issues that people tend to dismiss with out much consideration. But the problem has now escalated because people are not educated about the effects of their actions or of the simple methods that can be executed to counter these issues.

A small 100 square meter of roof area would receive 90,000 litres of rainwater in an average year of rain. That's nearly 36 lakh litres of water per acre. All we need is participation & understanding of the achievable."

Through W2 challenge we planed to educated people about the simple & cost effective methods of rain water harvesting and waste management. This project was initiated during 5 May to 15 June. It was a one month project. With the monsoon round the corner we felt this would be an appropriate time to execute this project.

Hoardings across the city, posters, stickers, radio messages, street plays were used to create awareness among the masses. At the same time, workshops by experts on water conservation and waste management, interactive sessions at schools etc were conducted to provide solutions.

How is the response to such initiatives? Have they been successful?

The response has been good; our food bank initiative is slowly but steadily rising. The number of donors has increased marginally but we believe that it has a lot more potential. Hopefully it will catch on fast.

The pulses collected by VHDC will be distributed to different beneficiaries each time, ensuring that aid reaches out to a majority of beneficiaries. VHDC aims at increasing awareness about this initiative and expects to achieve a collection of 5,000 Kgs by end 2007. In the coming months we plan to gradually increase the beneficiary list depending on the inflow of pulses from donors.  

The W2 challenge was a success to. The campaign ended with an inter- school meet at Lal Bagh where senior school children from across the state prepared simple innovative models on rainwater harvesting and waste management. An inter school play competition was also hosted on the theme "Bangalore 2016 if no preventive measures are taken". Over all we did achieve what we had set out to do.

Do you have tie-up with any organizations?

Right now "VHDC Bangalore Food Bank" is totally executed by us. Though we are not looking at any tie ups we definitely are open to large organizations and MNC donating to our cause. For the W2 challenge we tied up with Concern India Foundation an NGO, BBMP & Karnataka State Pollution control Board.

How do you plan to make this a mass initiative?

Through campaigns, word of mouth and assistance from the media. We need help from all quarters in spreading awareness among Bangaloreans. We also spread the message among our customers.

Interested donors can call 41193293 to collect their ‘Bangalore Food Bank' jar. Individual or corporate donors can also pledge cash, which will be used to buy grains. 

Do you think you will find enough donors in Bangalore?

Yes definitely. At present we have just broken through to our target audience. There is a lot more potential that needs to be tapped. We are looking at increasing the numbers. Hopefully we will succeed. 

Issue BG77 Aug07

Related Items:

---

Be first to comment this article

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.