I am fundraising for cuddalore and Chennai Flood Rehabilitation

Updates (4)
Story

17th January 2016

Updates as of Jan 17, 2016:

As a continuation of our rehabilitation work , kersoene stoves for the remaining villages, school supplies, tree plantaion , cycles to handicapped girls, pongal celebration with the village kids and various other things were happened in the past few days.

Following is the list of things done in the three villages so far:

1. Kerosene Stoves : 341 ( 3 villages : 310 families ; 30 stoves for families around these villages and one stove for the chemistry lab in the Government school)

2. Groceries (Rice and Cooking oil): 300+ families

3. School supplies like books, notes, tiffin boxes, stationaries etc were given to 10th and 12th standard students (around 20 people)

4. Dresses for two 12th standard girls in the village for their college

5. Following items were given to the local government school: Plates to 50 students, Sports items like football, volley ball, cricket bat, carom board, chess board etc.

6. Two, three wheeler cycles : For physically handicapped girls

7. Tree plantation: 132 trees were planted with the help of the village kids

8. Pongal celebration: As part of pongal celebration various competitions like Essay writing and Drawing were conducted to the village kids and small gifts were given to everyone who has participated in the competition

Gratitude:
1.Sincere thanks to Theelepan Mahendran and Team for spending more than a week and pongal holidays on helping these needy people
2. Thanks for everyone who has directly or indirectly contributed both physically and monetarily

Note:
Most of the above mentioned work was done before a week except the last two. I couldn't update on time because of my travel. Sorry for the delay.

What next:
Full list with the expenses incurred so far and our next plan of action will be updated soon.

Photos:

Kerosene stoves and Groceries distribution:

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School supplies:

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Three wheeler cycle:

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Tree Plantation:

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Pogal Celebration with Competition for village kids:

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Thanks

Current Status:

As planned , we have started with our rehabilitation work in three villages of cuddalore district which are very much economically backward and got very badly affected by the flood. Please refer below to the update section to know more details on what has been done so far and our other plans of action

Why am I fundraising?

This fundraising is to help in rehabilitating Villages around Cuddalore / Chennai districts which got affected by the floods. Today there are so many people, volunteers and NGOs doing a phenomenal work by helping the flood victims. But still there are and there will be unaddressed villages/people and causes; and we would like to focus our work on a few among them, in the best possible way. The vision of our fundraiser is to support the people not just in short run but in long run.  

Main objective:

Our main objective is focused on enabling people towards self-sustainability, so that they can stand on their own legs, rather giving them free bees and making them lazy. Our goals (at least for first six months) are to work with volunteers on identifying their actual need and providing them exactly what they want.

Where are we going to work?

We have identified three villages with the help of our local volunteers, namely M.G.R Nagar, Kannima Nagar and Sisil Nagar of Chidambaram Taluk, Cuddalore district, Tamil Nadu. There are a total of approximately 300 families in these villages. They are severely backward, economically. To elaborate on the economically background category, these people didn’t lose their TV, washing machine, grinder, two wheelers or cars during the flood, because they never had them to lose. Instead they lost their homes which were not more than small huts and their basic living amenities. Their primary occupation is catching snakes and rats. Most of them are not educated and the very few who have got education, have not even completed schooling.

Based on the field data collected by the volunteers, following things have been identified as their immediate need:

1. They are psychologically affected by the flood, thus they require counseling, to stabilize them mentally.
2. Many need urgent medical support.
3. Their villages need to be cleaned to avoid spreading of the diseases.
4. They don’t have gas stoves and until now they were using wooden sticks for cooking which was completely washed off by the floods. So for cooking they essentially require kerosene stoves.
5. Since their source of income is affected, they need groceries for at least a month, until they start getting back to their routine.
6. Many people don’t have ration cards / community certificates (again, never had them at all). So in a long run, arrangements have to be made to make sure, they get these certificates so as to obtain the benefits from the Government as well.

Action Plan:

Our First Step:

We are planning for a three day rehabilitation camp from January 1 to January 3, 2016 (postponed from the earlier plan from December 25 to December 27, 2015 because we were not able to reach the targeted amount: See update section below to know more details) focusing on the following activities

1.To provide counseling with the set of experienced people
2. Organizing a small medical camp for people who need urgent care
3. To provide Nilavambu Kashayam (an Indian Medical Association certified anti infect-ant) to prevent spreading of diseases like dengue fever and other diseases due to rains
4. Roughly 50 volunteers will be helping the village people in detail cleaning around the locality
Issuing of Kerosene stoves and basic groceries for a month for as many families as possible (Depending on the availability of funds)
5. Planting tree saplings in and around the villages (this will not only ensure greenery, but also stop the top soil from getting washed away in the floods)
6. Having one on one interactions with the villagers to identify their needs, so that we can accordingly plan our next actions

How can anyone contribute to this cause?

Any form of help in this regard is highly appreciable. Following are few ways to contribute

1. Monetary help can be done by clicking “donate now” tab
2. People can also contribute by giving things like groceries, medical supplies etc.
3, Those who wish to give physical support and to volunteer for the camp are most welcome
4. Also, if anyone wishes give their suggestions on donors who can potentially donate money and supplies, they are highly encouraged to do so. Please send us their contact, for us to reach them
5. Any doctors interested in helping the medical camp are welcome
6. Finally sharing this news with your friends in Facebook / Twitter or through any other means will be a greatest help

How can anyone ensure whether the funds are being utilized properly?

1. We will update our activities to this link periodically
2. All the bills, expenses involved and other possible transactions will be available in a common place where anyone can verify (Keeping in mind that no personal information about the donors/contributors is disclosed, unless otherwise necessary)
3.In case of any query, people can contact our Coordinators or they can comment in the link, so that their queries will be answered

Cost estimation for the activities planned for the camp:

1. Groceries

S.No	Village	Families	Unit cost	Total Cost
1	M.G.R Nagar	135	1000	1,35,000.00
2	Kannima nagar	65	1000	65,000.00
3	Sisil Nagar	95	1000	95,000.00
Total				295000.00

2. Cooking Stove

S.No	Village	Families	Unit cost	Total Cost
1	M.G.R Nagar	135	600	81000.00
2	Kannima nagar	65	600	39000.00
3	Sisil Nagar	95	600	57000.00
	Total			177000.00

3. Nilavembu Kashayam

S.No	Village	No of bottles	Unit cost	Total Cost
1	M.G.R Nagar	180	25	4500.00
2	Kannima nagar	90	25	2250.00
3	Sisil Nagar	125	25	3125.00
	Total			9875.00

4. Tree Plantation

S.No	Village	No of Trees	Unit cost	Total Cost
1	M.G.R Nagar	100	30	3000.00
2	Kannima nagar	50	30	1500.00
3	Sisil Nagar	50	30	1500.00
	Total			6000.00

Grand Total

S.No	Particulars	Total
1	Groceries	295000.00
2	Cooking Stove	177000.00
3	Nilavembu Kashayam	9875.00
4	Tree plantation	6000.00
5	Cleaning Supplies	5000.00
Grand Total		492875.00

Point of contact:

Ramesh Periyar – Primary Coordinator of all the field activities:+91 9500098734
Mohan Raj - Secondary Coordinator of all the field activities: + 91 9789749876
Sivaram Rajendhran (Myself)- Coordinating the fundraise and money transactions: +1 (716)262-5440

Villagers Contact details: