Hello Rotarians, Our Extended Families, Well-Wishers & Friends of Rotary…

The Rotary Year has come to a close and every time we have an achievement – there’s always this feeling of nostalgia that runs into the mind.

Just reflect on this:

• What is the feeling when a runner has achieved the milestone?
• What is the feeling of a student when the results are beyond expectation?
• What is the feeling of a family that plans for a good holiday vacation and things pan out in a manner much beyond their expectation?

Well, our Rotary year was nothing less than a truly remarkable one.

President Sudhir Mehta went all out to do all that came his way and why not – he had a capable team of people including Club Secretary Hema Subramanian, a veteran having played this role several times), Club Treasurer – Padma Kapoor who was visible in several projects and many a time accompanied by her granddaughter Vidusha.

In addition to this, the entire team of Rodeos – a combo of both board and non-board members who just did nothing but their best.

The year gave us much joy and I am sure our newsletters have been giving you enough and more to not just feel proud of what you are doing but also how others are supporting us in the quest to impact the community in bigger and bolder ways.

Here’s what our club has been able to achieve in the closing month of the year

Let me walk you through this exciting journey and start with some amazing feedback for our Newsletter 👇🏻

शुक्रिया | Shukriya | Thank You by President Sudhir Mehta

This was a gala evening of joy, happiness and celebrations of success. A program well compered by President Nominee Sangeeta Shahani – it saw President Sudhir in his finest terms wherein he was all out to give credit for all the work done in the year to Rodeos. There was indeed a huge amount of appreciation by members of the club to President Sudhir and his core team who truly made this happen.

Experience sharing was done by Inner Wheel Members and our Partners from the RCC, Rotaractors. This followed a series of recognition that was done by President Sudhir ably supported by Secretary Hema and Treasurer Padma.

It reminds me of what American Philosopher William James has aptly said

The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated

Fun Fact: Rtn Jhankar expressed his wish for Paani Puri and here we had Sangeeta Shahani who left no stone unturned to make it happen.

Here are some of the many images that were under circulation

This is what Rtn Jaisal Jetsey who was actively involved in the 1^st Global Grant had to say:

Heartiest congratulations Rajashri, Sudhir and team. There is no better satisfaction than saving a life and too of a child. Brilliant.

Feedback from Shatabdi Hospital

This came in response to our donation to the hospital in the earlier months.

The Department of Pediatrics and Department of ENT (Shatabdi, Govandi) are happy to announce we have started Newborn screening for deafness, through OAE.

We would like to thank the Rotary club of Deonar for organizing sponsorship for the OAE device.

We would request one and all to kindly avail of this facility, free of cost at Shatabdi Hospital, Govandi.

Thank you dear Rodeos for your support & adulation for Pink Auto project. I may be most visible but there are many of you who have contributed to build it up to this level. And the list is long… to enumerate some other time. The project is not yet over but the culmination is in sight soon.

Rtn Alka Murli

Take a bow Alka. A fulfilling exercise for you. Admire your dedication

President Nominee Sangeeta Shahani

Here’s an inspiring update by Rtn Sanjay Mehta after his visit to the RCC:

A visit to the Swami Vivekanand Madhyamik Vidyalaya at Jambhiwali, Karjat, Dist. Raigad

Sitting in the comfort of our city homes, getting worked up about our first-world problems (slow WiFi, delayed Swiggy delivery, air conditioner not cooling so well, etc.), we generally have no clue as to how privileged we are compared to our fellow citizens, living perhaps, no more than 60-70 km away.

That understanding can hit you only when you actually make a trip and spend some time with them, listening to their stories.

Just to give you an example of what I heard and saw yesterday, when I made the trip to a secondary school in a small village, near Karjat, just about 75 km from home:

• that this school was authorized a couple of decades back, but nothing else moved. Just a building, and nothing else.
• took a lot of effort over many years of applications and follow-ups, to get assigned basic infra to move forward, including teachers etc
• and yet, there was no electricity. Took so many years, so many applications, and so much follow-up, to get electricity for the school
• today also, it remains very difficult to get teachers to go there and teach
• young boys and girls to walk anywhere from 1-4 km one way to get to the school
• and this was still a relatively “better” school for that region. There are tribal areas a little deeper, where also schools are present, but in much worse conditions

With all such unbelievable constraints in life (compared to our city life where we take all of these things for granted, and the only worry we have is that the pizza we ordered from Swiggy should not go cold by the time we get it!), there is a positivity that is fabulous.

There is a focus on the silver lining rather than just the dark clouds.

To give you examples:

• teachers are supremely dedicated to keeping doing their best. They work at meagre salaries, which do not come on time, and yet they do their best for the children
• the kids are also so keen on education. They aspire to be educated, learn new things, grow,
• with all the limitations that they have, they have produced class X results with students getting 80-90% marks and moving forward in life
• recently, one of the children from this area made it through the UPSC exams,
• teachers from these schools have received State level and National level awards for teaching
• many of the teachers today had been students here and had studied when things were so much worse, but they are keen to make change happen, and are putting their dedicated efforts in that direction

So, while the situation is undoubtedly tough, the community refuses to give up and keeps pushing and fighting on.

And this is where they get support from various people and organisations, one of which is the Rotary movement, in this case, specifically, my Rotary Club, viz the Rotary Club of Deonar.

Our club has been associated with that entire region now for more than 25 years. There is an extension of Rotary called the Rotary Community Corps (RCC), where we have people from these rural areas also coming together to help us identify areas for support, coordinate the efforts, and ensure that we are creating the right impact etc.

Our Club runs 5 such RCCs in that area, giving us ample scope for contributing to making a difference.

Yesterday, for example, we visited there, to hand over computers and printers for 7 schools in the area, to hand over a water filtration plant enabling clean pure water for the kids in this school, to contribute books for the school library, and also handing over about 100 sanitary kits, to young girls of the school, to ensure health hygiene for these girls.

Such and many other ongoing projects keep happening.

I was fortunate to make the trip along with my wife and a few others Rotarians from our club, and it was good to see the ground reality personally.

The very warm and heartfelt gratitude that many teachers expressed, was moving, to say the least. These are teachers, they are working hard, and they deserve all the respect that teachers anywhere deserve, and yet they were the ones who were feeling so obligated and grateful to us, for our support to them.

That being the case, it was a Sunday well-spent, and giving a lot of food for thought around how we can help these communities more!

I am aware that such communities exist all across India and everyone can do their bit in any part of the country and that so much needs to be done, anyway.

That said, here is an existing community that I know of and that our Rotary Club has been serving for more than 25 years now.

As I share this on my social media, I know that I have many of your friends and family, who have the means and the intent to support such causes.

If any of you are interested to associate, you are more than welcome. Do reach out to me on DM, and we can speak about how you can help.

I also invite you to join me and our club members when we visit there the next time. It is always a moving experience, reminding us of our privileged existence.

Also, there is an immediate requirement that I want to mention. While we were there at the school for about 2-3 hours, for the entire duration, there was no electricity! And this power breakdown is a regular affair in such regions. What good will be the computers etc if there is no electricity?!!

Here is where a solar power setup for the school could work well. It can suddenly make the school independent of the vagaries of electricity supply, and provide uninterrupted education for the kids. This solar set-up would cost around INR 5 lakh (approx USD 6500). In case any of you would like to sponsor or contribute to this, it would be a good start to your association for this cause, and provide ample value to the 180 students who study at this secondary school.

RCC saw further action with Project RED and Classroom benches

Looking at the image of Rtn Kannan – one can understand how the child in him is always alive. One can draw so much inspiration from Shelu Naresh’s last project of the current RY.

Rtn Padma Kapoor shared this image which speaks about our routine protocol to sit at Thakare’s and enjoy the combo of Vada Pav with Chai.

Distribution of Hygiene Kits

Hygiene kits under Project RED were distributed in the schools of the Karjat tribal area. The girls were feeling extremely humble with our support and encouragement to them in their overall development.

Classroom benches gifted to Adivasi School

Check this image of Neral Vidhya Vikas School – What an amazing view to see

RC Deonar gifted the school with classroom benches for Adivasi children of Jhambulwadi village closer to the hillside. Benches procurement was coordinated by Rtn Jaydeep.

This is what Rtn Sudhir Mehta had to say after the event:

Humble experience on the closure of our Dream Year. Hope in eyes of children and a determination to succeed against all odds. We as Rodeos will always support

Here’s what the School Teacher shared with Shelu Naresh – Rtn Kannan

Respected Kanna sir….

On behalf of Zp school Anandwadi, I would like to thank you and Rotary Club of Deonar Mumbai for donating our school 10 benches.

We are extremely thankful for your support which will be helpful in children’s learning.

We ensure you that we will continuously work hard for providing these underprivileged kids a quality education.

Thank you again for your support and kindness.

Sincerely,

Bhushan Patil sir

Raigad Zilla Parishad School Anandwadi

Rtn Shivani Bansal’s comment here was worth noting:

Congratulations Alka. You are unstoppable. 👏🏻👏🏻

Awesome Vivek. You are going places. Building the brand RCD. Keep shining. Keep going

Rtn A V Suresh

Congratulations Vivek!! Well done

Rtn Manju

Incredible Vivek 🙏🏼

Rtn Jhankar Gadkari: