Deepam Half-yearly Newsletter

(Jul-Dec14)

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Contents
Half-yearly update (Jul-Dec14) .................................................................................................................... 3
Events ............................................................................................................................................................ 3
TCS lights up Deepams Diwali .................................................................................................................. 3
VRS Centers Field trip to Guindy Park ...................................................................................................... 4
Teachers day celebrations @ WM center................................................................................................ 5
Big FMs visit to our Olcott Center ............................................................................................................ 5
Childrens day celebration @ Olcott center.............................................................................................. 6
Uniform Distribution at WM center.......................................................................................................... 7
Christmas celebrations @ Deepam........................................................................................................... 8
Deepam STARS Program @ VRS and WM Centers ....................................................................................... 9
Deepam Featured Volunteer of the month Awards ................................................................................ 10
Volunteer meet ........................................................................................................................................... 12

For any queries or clarifications, please reach out to janavi@deepam.in

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Half-yearly update (Jul-Dec14)

By Janavi Shyam
The autumn and winter quarters of the year were quite eventful and fun-filled. The host of outdoor
activities made it six months of enjoyable outings for most centers. Some of the major days were
Childrens day, Teachers Day and Christmas. TCSs noble gesture to gift each of our students with
goodies for Diwali made it a memorable festival for all kids. The unique event was the all-center sports
day @ Olcott that was the very first time that kids were pitted against each other in friendly sports
events. Field visitsSTARS programvolunteer meet etc made it a busybusy six months for all centers.
WM Center conducted a meeting with parents of children in December. After an overview of Deepam,
its goals and ideals, parents were formally introduced to volunteers and given an insight into what takes
place in the 2.5 hours of a typical Deepam class in WM. After briefly going over the role of volunteers
and children, the importance of parents' involvement in helping children learn better and become
confident to face higher classes in a different school and in a different environment was discussed
elaborately.
Deepam also presented its latest annual report online which can be obtained from the link below
http://blog.deepam.org.in/2014/09/deepam-annual-report-2013-14.html

Events
TCS lights up Deepams Diwali
By Janavi Shyam
TCS did a noble gesture this year by gifting all our students with goodies for Diwali. The gifts were
wrapped in colourful paper and presented to children at all our Centers on the occasion. Some of the
pics below show the kids in a happy mood post receiving their rightful presents.

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VRS Centers Field trip to Guindy Park

By Rohit Narasimhan

Children from our VRS center made a trip to the Guindy Park on the occasion of Childrens day. The field
trip was a big hit among all kids as they had solid fun @ kids play area in the park.

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Teachers day celebrations @ WM center

By Praveen V

The tradition where the kutties of SVN school do something for their teachers on teachers' day was once
again upheld at WM Center.
First, a conversation piece on Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, was delivered spiritedly by five children
taking turns. They would, on Teachers Day, perform it for their teachers. All the kids then
enthusiastically signed their names on the colorfully prepared greeting card for giving to their teachers.
Within the greeting card in tiny handwriting, the following words had been etched:
"You made us laugh, you made us cry. We are your little birds that can fly. HAPPY TEACHERS DAY!"
Although in the past couple of years Teachers' Day was celebrated with fanfare producing great little
creations from the children, this year we salvaged it through a simple yet effective celebration. We later
learned that the children did well to impress the teachers.

Big FMs visit to our Olcott Center

By Janavi
A calm Saturday afternoon welcomed RJ Balaji, Chennais best known RJ from Big FM when he came to
visit our Olcott center to entertain the kids. His mimicry and fun quiz was well received by the crowd.

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Goodies were given to kids who answered correctly. Children had amazing fun with what was a unique
experience for them.

Childrens day celebration @ Olcott center

By Janavi R

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A nice balmy morning welcomed all Deepam students @ Olcott School, Besant Nagar for the first ever
integrated Childrens Day celebrations at Deepam. Over 60 students from Deepams 5 centers were
transported to Olcott along with volunteers and teachers. The students were treated to a fun-filled
puppet show, a host of games and lots of snacks to keep them hip and happy. Dr.H.Pramila, Retd Dean,
Kilpauk Medical College & Hospital, spoke about the importance of Swachh Bharat and how a hygienic
surrounding will improve our lifestyle and well-being.
The sports events witnessed good participation and intense competition. It was the very first time that
all centers had come together for a sports meet. Ashok from RR Donnelly sponsored all the snacks and
Amrita donated stationery on the occasion of Childrens day
Simultaneously on the same day, for some of WM Center children who could not make it to Olcott for
the sports event, a mini event was held at WM comprising games and fun events like Bingo, Musical
Chair, Blindfold and balloon bursting. Winners were announced and it was ensured that every child took
home a gift.

Uniform Distribution at WM center

In our last Newsletter, we had mentioned about Infosys & Deepam donating Rs.15000/- to WM School
towards uniform. Sets of uniforms were distributed to all the children studying in the school.
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An overwhelmed Ms Latha Devi, a teacher at SVN School, wrote to Deepam, "I profusely thank you on
behalf of 50 students and four teachers for your noble gestures. May the almighty bless you and your
family and associates with long life, prosperity and peace of mind so that you continue the journey of
charitable dispositions. My special thanks and regards to Mr.Anand (Infosys)."

Christmas celebrations @ Deepam

By Rohit Narasimhan

Christmas celebrations took place with usual fanfare at our VRS center this year. Children received their
usual share of goodies. Kids also sang Jingle bellsjingle bells welcoming SantaThe volunteers posing
as Santa distributed stationery as gifts

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Deepam STARS Program @ VRS and WM Centers

Deepams marquee incentive program for children, the STARS program was held at our VRS and WM
centers. Deserving children received scholarship money which was distributed by Deepam Volunteers.
Deepam sponsors the program @ WM center while The Regional Grand Lodge of Southern India
Charitable Trust is our esteemed donor at VRS center. Deepam wishes to thank the benevolent souls at
the RGLSIC Trust who unfailingly do this every year.

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Deepam Featured Volunteer of the month Awards

Kamali from Olcott center was awarded the "Featured Volunteer of the Month" for Jul'14

A short write-up about Kamali from Gopal :

Kamali is one of the key volunteers @ Olcott. She is omnipresent and is a favorite among children. Most
of the kids like her way of teaching. The care she takes to satisfy all students is noteworthy. She played
a very important role in the curriculum preparation for the academic year 2013-2014 and 2014-2015.
During student outings, she puts in a lot of effort to make it very useful for the kids. Her effort in
arranging for the visit to CWET was quite special as it turned out to be a great learning for both kids and
volunteers.
Jayashree from WM Center was awarded the "Featured Volunteer of the Month" for Aug'14.

A short write-up about Jayashree from R Rajagopalan :

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Jayashree has been with WM Center for the past more than 3 years. Her late-night work hours prevent
her from being present at all classes, but whenever she attends, she breezes in with 100% enthusiasm
and in high spirits. Her unique way with children has earned her adoration from children -- the timid as
well as the unruly alike -- who, on seeing her enter, form a break-away group to go and sit with her. At
events organized at the Center, one can always see Jayashree playing a key role -- sometimes as emcee,
sometime as quiz master, distributing cookies, generally overseeing matters or ordering children about.
Whenever the class gets out of control because of chattering kids, other volunteers look upon Jayashree
to bring order. Ready to take on any task, capable of handling many children at a time single-handedly,
she can easily assess a child's capacity to learn, identify those who need special attention and come up
with valuable suggestions.
Her long-standing association with WM, helped further by her ever-cheerful disposition, has made
Jayashree a well-liked friend to all volunteers and a favourite 'akka' to all WM children - present and
past.
Murugesh from Alwarpet center was awarded the "Featured Volunteer of the Month" for Sep'14

A short write-up about Murugesh from Anuradha:

Murugesh, a core volunteer at Deepam's VRS center has been volunteering for over three years.
He brings loads of positive energy to the class and has the uncanny knack of balancing the fun and
serious sides to volunteering.
His involvement in Deepam goes beyond the regular classes. He takes proactive measures to spread
word about Deepam in his social and professional circles. Thanks to these efforts, donations have come
in, new volunteers have joined. And the kids have been the lucky recipients of books, stationery and
other goodies over the last couple of years.
He genuinely aspires to give Deepam children the best that we can. In this context, the idea of
streamlining funds for Deepam has struck a chord with Murugesh and he has done considerable ground
work on that front.

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Volunteer meet
By Janavi Shyam

Deepams continuing initiative in keeping up volunteer involvement and interest is brought out in our
Volunteer meet-ups. Apart from discussing on future initiatives and events, volunteers also actively
participate in fun events. This edition which happened in July included a fun-filled football match at the
Elliots beach in Besant Nagar.

Those who are interested in Deepam with respect to volunteering/ Donations/ Events for kids/ other
information, please reach out to janavi@deepam.in
For more information, checkwww.deepam.in or visit us at www.facebook.com/deepam.chennai

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