Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India]: The season of love, cheer, and giving is upon us! And the spirit of joy and kindness is in the air. In light of this years Christmas season, Reach Lives, a Bengaluru-based NGO has taken up the cause of promoting positive mental health among underprivileged children with their seasonal distribution program ‘Project Christmas Cheer’.
Aiming to spread the Christmas Cheer in the best way they can, ‘Project Christmas Cheer’ is an annual, volunteer-led outreach program that Reach Lives organizes for children in orphanages, foster homes, and temporary settlements. The day-long event took place on the 14th of December 2021, and featured the distribution of gift-hampers among underprivileged children accompanied by lots of music, dance, and other activities.
The previous edition of the Christmas outreach program proved to be a successful one. The event was flagged off by Ms. Meenakshi Krishna Byre Gowda, and the program resulted in the distribution of over 10,000 gifts to over several thousand children. As part of the 2022 edition, Reach Lives built on the success of last year’s event by organizing a much larger outreach program, reaching nearly over 10,000 children this year! Leading up to the day, volunteers of the Reach Lives NGO dedicatedly reached out to numerous Bengalurean communities to collect toys, clothes, stationary, books and snacks, to make this years program a gracious, and fruitful one.
Speaking on this years edition of ‘Project Christmas Cheer’, Dr. Senneil Gomes, a program director at Reach Lives, said, “Christmas is the season of gifting, and giving – the one time of year that children look forward to the most. With this years outreach program, we wanted to help give the gift of Christmas cheer to the children of Bengaluru who may not have the luxuries and privileges that we do. With our gifts, music, and interactions, we are happy to have brought about some cheer into the lives of these children, and foster good mental health during the holiday season.”
Ms Mini Mohan, Chairperson of the organization, stated, “This year, we received a lot of support from interested volunteers; especially students of institutions like Ramaiah and Presidency College. It is with the love and support of these willing volunteers that we were able to cover a much larger portion of Bengaluru this time around; bringing thousands of gifts to over 10,000 underprivileged children. With each year that passes by we hope to grow our reach among more underprivileged children, and spread even more smiles. It is the smiles of these children that give us the drive to do what we do – reach lives, and make a difference.”
An initiative of Anora Charitable Foundation, Reach Lives plans to keep mental health at the core of all these events. They will be organizing many engaging events at each of the gift distribution sites to encourage participation from children and foster good mental health.
For more information on Reach Lives, visit www.reachlives.com