SMILE in Chennai
Posted on August 15, 2004 in charityfocus.
On his way back from an India trip,
Ragu was to bring back 25 kilograms of
smiles.
Coincidentally, in Chennai, he encountered
SMILE: Selfless Movement Improving Life Everywhere. He's convinced its founder, Paramasivam, is my long lost twin. Why? To quote Ragu:
- The manager of State Bank of India walks in to offer
funding after learning about SMILE. Just for fun, Paramasivam
asks how much will he give. The manager says, "Up to one crore
for now." Then Mr.P smiles and says no. The manager sits
there shaking his head.
- SMILE conducts a "clothing drive". Word of mouth results in
thousands of people giving their clothes. SMILE volunteers
get together, sort them out and distribute them in person in
many poor areas. After the distribution, they all get
together to share their stories. One girl picks the mike and
says, "I am from a poor family myself. But the opportunity for
me to serve has given me lot of satisfaction and confidence
that even I can serve."
- Someone asks Mr.P, "How many volunteer does SMILE have?"
Mr.P says, "Well, on paper we have 5000. But you see, our aim
is to provide opportunities for people to serve even if it
is only for one time. In that way our "volunteer number"
would run to several thousands. But I always tell anyone who
contacts us to volunteer that we are here only to help you
volunteer, nothing else. So, even if you want to use some
other name and not SMILE, we are not only ok with it, but we
encourage it. We'd be hapy if our "brand name" does not
spread but our spirit of service spreads because brand names
create limits eventually."
- SMILE conducts eye operation camps for thousands. They
need 100 auto rikshaws to transport patients to and fro. On
the operation day, the autos show up and work all day to
finish the operations. End of the day the auto drivers refuse
to take the money. They say, "don't deny us the
opportunity."
- Mr. P does not read books. He says that all his knowledge
comes from reading himself.
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