Day of giving

The Astitva School at MIDC Dombivli at any given time has a pile of furniture that needs repairing The school which caters to the mentally challenged as well as those with a hearing disability has over 400 students many of whom are below the age of 18 ldquoMischief is common among children this age and furniture and windows are constantly breakingrdquo reveals Radhika Gupte trustee Astitva organisation ldquoBut funds are short and it is difficult for us to make sure the furniture is faultless at all timesrdquo she rues So last year when the carpenters from Fevicol Champions Club devoted an entire day to repair work on the schoolrsquos campus they became heroes not only to the organisation but also to the children at the school The Fevicol Champions Club functions on three principles mdash bonding training and social welfare Carpenters repair broken furniture at a schoolu00a0 ldquoThey came to our institute inspected the furniture and worked on whatever needed repair They fixed a number of windows tables and chairs It was wonderfulrdquo recalls Gupte ldquoEven though we try to sanction repair work once a year it gets difficult for us because our costs are far higher than the grant we receive from the governmentrdquo she adds Lokeshwar Vishwakarma who spent his day labouring at a similar institute in Thane recalls the look on the childrenrsquos faces on Shram Daan Diwas last year ldquoThey watched us with such delightrdquo he exlaims The 40yearold carpenter who has two little children of his own claims he has never felt better about himself than he did at the end of that day And yet all through our conversation the woodworker from Uttar Pradesh remains nonchalant about giving up a dayrsquos worth of labour to offer a wonderfully thoughtful service to those in dire need Joining the club Vishwakarma became a part of the Fevicol Champions Club three years ago and is today one among a total of 35000 members all from the woodworking community across the country ldquoEstablished in 2002 the FCC is a oneofitskind club that functions on three principles mdash bonding training and social welfarerdquo explains Nilesh Mazumdar president sales and marketing Fevicol For Vishwakarma the club has served as a valuable platform to network with people in the business ldquoThe members meet often over a cup of chai and discuss work Sometimes if one of us is overloaded with work we offer the job to another fellow memberrdquo reveals the carpenter The club undertakes several activities through the year including diabetes camps blood donation drives and awarding scholarships etc Shram Daan Diwas one of the clubrsquos biggest initiatives was born in a bid to celebrate the clubrsquos founding day December 20 ldquoWe felt that making a contribution to society was the best way to celebrate the anniversary of the FCCrdquo opines Mazumdar The objective of Shram Daan Diwas he adds is to unite woodworkers to donate a day towards social welfare Students of Astitva School at MIDC Dombivli Last year39s panIndia Shram Daan Diwas initiative with a total of 15000 woodworkers participating made it to the Limca Book of Records For the community The members of the club adds Mazumdar are an extremely selfmotivated team ldquoFCCShram Daan Diwas is completely their own initiative The smiling faces of the children from these needy institutes is something that charges them to come together and donate a day of their labourrdquo he says ldquoYes we are giving up on one day of labour but it is for the welfare of society Just knowing that much is enough to rid us of our worries That makes it worth everythingrdquo says Lalchand Sharma a Jogeshwaribased contractor Last year39s panIndia Shram Daan Diwas initiative with a total of 15000 woodworkers participating made it to the Limca Book of Records ldquoThis year we plan to make it even bigger with more than 22000 wood workers participating in Shram Daan Diwas across 325 institutes in 145 locations across the countryrdquo says Mazumdar The members of the FCC identify institutions across the country that could do with a helping hand and get in touch with the authorities Now that the initiative is better known there are certain schools that get in touch with the club too ldquoWe would certainly love to have them over againrdquo exclaims Gupte certainly a very happy customeru00a0