Making a difference by helping the needy

BANGALORE: On December 15, 2010, we met a very enthusiastic Theja George, who had taken up the initiative of collecting 500 blankets and distributing them to the poor on the street.She then said, “Every year I do something for the less privileged people of the society.It is freezing cold during Christmas.Can you imagine sleeping without a blanket in the cold? It is impossible to do so.I see beggars on the streets sleeping at night in the cold, and the sight is very disturbing.Many of them are old and some are children.So I decided to collect blankets and quilts from people I know.My target was to collect 500 blankets and go around the city to distribute them to the poor and the beggars who sleep on the streets.” City Express (then Expresso) had started a series called ‘Lean on Me’, to highlight initiatives that individuals from the city take up in doing their bit towards contributing to the society.We were glad that our article made a difference and helped establish a connection with our readers, who contacted Theja and made contributions, that not only helped her reach the target of 500 blankets but also exceeded it.Theja successfully collected 650 blankets and drove in the city distributing them to the ones living on the streets.Theja says, “Before the article came out I think I had collected about 200 to 250 blankets.I had a week until Christmas to reach my target.But the numbers were not moving.Though the initiative had gathered momentum on the social networking site, it was not enough to reach the target.The response I got after the article was published was amazing.I had people contacting me and coming to my place dropping off blankets.What a proud moment it was! A lot of people today feel that the media is not doing their job right.But I feel it was so effective for me.I exceeded my target and collected 650 blankets by December 24." We thank all the readers for supporting us throughout and truly make a difference to the people we write about.A decade has gone by and we only hope in the years to come our association continues forever