Report 2011 - 2012

                               

In 2011, starting of the year with the new board, we first held recruitment to help us achieve our new goals set for the year. On July 31^th, at Gymkhana Club, opposite to KBR Park, we held the recruitment. Launching it at 10am, we started off with Group Discussion, then Team Stimulation and after with Personal Interviews. Including elimination at each round, it went on till 3pm. At the end of the day out of 32 people that came to be recruited, 17 enthusiastic people made it to be our new members of the club. 

On August 14^th, we decided to formally invite our newest recruits officially into the club. Knowing to do this we decided to hold Ice Breakers at one of our members’ house.  Where our new members can comfortably get acquainted with our old members, through some different games we planned for them. Also during the session we presented in detail to what sort of work we have done in the past and the projects we have planned for the year coming along. Getting a positive feedback from new recruits about our session, we were delighted that they had fun and learn more about our club.

August 28^th, we held installation for our new board and members at Hotel Grand Seasons, Shivam Road at 5:30pm. The president of Rotaray Club of Hyderabad East, Ravi Sreenivas Rao was present for the Ceremony. The new members were welcomed with great enthusiasm into our club. The installation ceremony was followed by a delightful dinner.  

In October we had our hands full with the project in association with SMILE.  We associated with SMILE foundation to sell fire crackers for Diwali. We sold about 16,500ruppees worth of fire crackers.  This small project was very successful.  Also in October our club actively participated in the Joy of Giving Week from October 2^nd to October 8^th.  On October 3^rd our members spent the day with the children for the disabled at Ranigunj, located in Secunderabad. While we organized lunch and different games for the children, we also distributed clothes for the kids and different stationary items and also for the girls we gifted bangles.

 On October 4^th, we went to visit Cherish, an orphanage in Gudimalkapur. Cherish is a grass-root level orphanage started solely by a lady who help to nurture the lives of kids from the streets. We spent the second day of Joy of Giving Week at Cherish, where the children showcased their talents by singing, dancing, and telling us different types of stories. We later organized and played different types of games such as, “Simon Says”, Passing-the-Parcel, Cricket and Jump Roping. After we individually distributed packed snack boxes to each child including of a juice box, a slice of cake, a veggie puff, and a couple of biscuits.

October 5^th, we had a trip to an old age home located in Secundrabad. We sang different kinds of song putting our hearts into it, surprisingly later as we kept singing on the others started to join us and sing with us. It was such a wonderful experience knowing that such little things can makes you smile and spread a smile across others as well. Bonding while the singing, we spent a deal of time with them, having a great day in the form of music. 

With out knowing the week has gone by so quickly, the last two remaining days October 7^th and 8^th, we participated in the Karma Yoga Seva Mela. It was held in the Zorastrian Club at Begumpet. The mela was basically for visitors to interact with around 60 different NGOs that were there to understand their work and anticipation. We also kept a stall at the mela for both days. Also during these both days we had a signature campaign to spead awareness about polio eradication. We successfully managed to achieve 412 signatures in two days. Knowing that Joy of Giving Week was a success for our club.

           Next month on November 6^th, we had our first fellowship at one of the members’ house. Celebrating the success of Joy of the Giving Week, we had a very fun evening with all the members getting together. We played a few different games such as Tambola. That evening was followed by dinner.  Due to exams in December we didn’t get to work on any projects.

But in 2012, January 7^th, we had our New Year celebration at AGAPE. We took cake and snakes for the children there. We spent the day interacting with them, singing different songs and dancing around. At the end of the day we had a small interaction session where member guided each child who appeared for their 10^th board exams. 

On February 25^th, we volunteered for Child Reach International at Lakshanika International School. Child Reach International India proposes to facilitate an interactive platform for the children – My School, My Voice – at few reputed schools in the twin cities of Hyderabad. My School, My Voice strives to provide an opportunity for school children to stimulate and provoke thoughts and actively participate in social actions; and make a proactive and positive difference to self and other children around them. It aims to provide a space for children to feel, express and be listen to – an opportunity often overlooked. 

From March 3^rd to March 16^th, we started our next project called Silver Lining. Where we successfully organized scribes for students at Sai Junior College for the blind for their intermediate board exams. We managed to find 75 different scribes for each day. The project was very successful. 

          Also in March Aurum ’12 took place. AURUM is a signature event done by our club. Where we had 65 cars participating in the Treasure Hunt. Where we raised 1.2 lacks from the event. We had the actor Arvind Krishna give away the prizes worth 70,000rupees. 

In May, we held a medical camp in Mahalingapuram. This is the second year for the medical camp, with collaboration with Care Hospital. We had five doctors and six support staff sent to Mahalingapuram for the medical camp. They conduced check up on 298 patients from 11am up to 4pm. We also distributed medicine to the patients as per requirements.

AURUM- a treasure hunt for charity.

AURUM – a treasure hunt for charity

The Rotaract Club of Hyderabad East organized their signature fund raiser AURUM on October 24h 2010.Aurum is a city wide treasure hunt conducted annually by the club. 2010 being the 3rd consecutive year Aurum is being conducted. Though on the day before the event the city witnessed heavy rainfall, this did not dampen the spirit of the members or the participants. Sunday morning witnessed a successful event and thus was a bright day for the Rotaract Club of Hyderabad East.

The concept underlying the treasure hunt is very simple. Each team consists of four participants. The teams are given clues that lead to the various checkpoints in the twin cities and a list of treasures which they have to collect on the way. The team to reach maximum number of correct checkpoints and collect the treasures within the least time wins.

The starting point was Jalavihar, necklace road. The participants arrived by 10:30 am. The members handled registrations and refreshments for all participants. There were participants of all age groups. The 1st flag off was done by the President of the club for the year 2010, Ms. Kedari Reddy at 11am. There were a total of 57 cars and nearly 235 people who took part in this event. At 12 pm when the last team left, all the members proceeded to the end spot, Blend located in Jubilee Hills.

As the participants were cracking the clues, the members rushed to the end point to make arrangements for evaluation of results. At 1 pm after the clues were decoded and treasures were collected cars started arriving at the end point. Every team reached the end with great enthuse and anxiousness about the results. While the results were being compiled by the members, the participants enjoyed music and refreshments. As the result time came closer, the anxiousness grew. When team number 11 was announced the winner, their cheers bought the roof down. There were prizes worth eighty thousand.

Aurum was successful and the club’s message was also conveyed. Aurum is the annual fund raiser of the club; thus the proceeds towards this event go towards various community service projects. It was also the participant’s way of contributing to the society as they have fun. The member efforts towards making this event successful were highly credible.

We congratulate the Rotaract Club of Hyderabad East on the success of its event and
wish it good luck for all further endeavours.

Joy of Giving Week

The Joy of Giving Week is a "festival of giving" that aims to bring together Indians all across the country and abroad through different acts of giving- money, time, skills or resources. The secret of happiness lies in the joy of giving and sharing. The Week was launched in 2009 .This year the joy of giving week was from September 26, 2010 to October 2, 2010.
Since, our club believes in making a difference differently, this joy of giving week, we came up with a set of events that would help spread happy cheer.

We began the joy of giving week on a completely fun note; our first event on the 26th was ‘Craft-toon’, an art and craft workshop for the kids at Aman Vedika. Our members were very enthusiastic and excited. The kids very doubly excited and were eagerly waiting for us. We taught the kids to make various fun art and craft items like boat, four cups, candles and many more things will colour papers. The younger kids had a gala time colouring cartoons and other pictures. The day ended with the kids and members dancing to various songs. It was one event were we all got to re-live our childhood, involve ourselves with colours, music, run around as a train and much more. We also got to see how talented the club members where when it comes to making art and craft, dancing and singing ;)

Our second event, ‘Symphony’ –a musical evening on, 27th at Sai junior College, for the visually challenged was an evening filled with melodious music where we had members from our club playing and singing various famous Hindi and Telugu songs for the kids there. The highlight of the day was the talented kids who completely mesmerized us with their singing talent. The event was covered by Maa Music.

On 1st, we screened ‘Maya Bazaar’, a Telugu movie at Agape. Agape is a home for the children affected with HIV positive .The word “agape” means God’s love. Their mission is to love and care for the poorest of poor suffering as a result of the global AIDS crisis. It has been one of our main centres for our community service projects. The kids and rotaractors thoroughly enjoyed the movie, we had a wonderful evening.

On October 1st and 2nd we took part in the ‘Karmayog-seva mela’. More than 20 organisations and volunteers had showcased their creative talents and worked through competition cum exhibition. We had a combined stall with the Rotaract Club of Hyderabad North and our aim was to raise funds for polio eradication as a part of rotary’s international project “We shall overcome”. We had members at the stall from 11 am to 8 pm where they enlightened people about polio and ways to eradicate it. We managed to raise a good amount.

This was the first event for the new recruits and the new board and it was a HUGE success. Looking forward for BIGGER and BETTER events. Cheers!

Pooja Vaikari
Director for international service, 2010-2011

Rotaract- That says it all

Rotaract is a Rotary-sponsored service club for young men and women between the ages of 18 and 30. Rotaract clubs are either community or university based, and they are sponsored by a local Rotary club. This makes them true "partners in service" and key members of the family of Rotary.
As one of Rotary‟s most significant and fastest-growing service programs, with more than 7,000 clubs across 163 countries and geographical areas, Rotaract has become a worldwide phenomenon.

The Rotaract Club of Hyderabad East was chartered on the 29th of September 2007 an is one of the city‟s most active clubs, having bagged awards for its efforts. Our members are mostly students between the ages of 18 and 24, pursuing the bachelor‟s courses in various fields ranging from Commerce to Engineering, and some of whom are working. Rotaract club of Hyderabad East has since its inception done several community service projects, making a genuine effort to touch lives and make a difference differently! All Rotaract efforts begin at the local, grassroots level, with members addressing their communities’ physical and social needs while promoting international understanding and peace through a framework of friendship and service.

Rotaract represents ‘Rotary in action’ and true to this, we have organised a variety of innovative community service projects, for their benefit and also make sure that they enjoy themselves.

Community service projects:
•Donation of a 1500 watt music system to AGAPE.
•Organization of a painting workshop for the children at AGAPE.
•Donation of three air coolers at AGAPE right before the summer months..
•Organization of a Christmas party for the children at AGAPE and Aman Vedika.
•Funding the education of under privileged children
•Conducting food donation drives at locations, on many occasions.
•Donating teaching aids at Sri Guru Sankalpam, for mentally Challenged children.
•Donating tricycles for the physically challenged.
•Participating actively in Pulse Polio programmes, immunizing over 1000 children every year.
•Providing stationary at government schools for children before their exams.
•Celebrating festivals with Children at various homes across the city.
•Donating clothes at old age homes and orphanages •Providing medicines at homes for the aged. •Starting a library at AGAPE
•Project Silver Lining - Volunteering as scribes for the intermediate exams of blind students
•Donation of food and grains for Kashmiri Refugees
 •Donation of money for Kidney Transplant operations of patients who couldn't afford the cost.

•We are also taking part in a nationwide movement called ‘Joy of Giving Week’ to encourage social service by organising a variety of projects throughout the week. AGAPE: The word “agape” means God’s love. Their mission is to love and care for the poorest of poor suffering as a result of the global AIDS crisis. It has been one of our main centers for our community service projects.

We meet on a regular basis to plan and organize the community service projects and also to organize various fund raising projects to procure funds for the charitable activities.

Fundraisers: All profits from the fund raisers go towards these activities. We plan to conduct fundraisers to raise funds for community service and to spread the word about our organization, so that people will know that they can serve society through us. We also use this as a tool to promote social causes which may benefit from the exposure.
 One of our first fund-raiser was a Karaoke night at Levitate. We also conducted a Salsa workshop

 Then, we conducted AURUM- a treasure hunt for charity. This event had a HUGE turn-out so we made it an annual event. We conducted it twice and it keeps getting bigger and better. This year we plan to have it on the 1st or 2nd Sunday of October The Treasure Hunt begins at a pre-decided point (which will be notified to all the participants on registration and which will also be advertised on posters advertising the event to allow spot-registrations). The participants will be given the set of clues at the starting point which will cover a number of places in the city. The participants will also have to collect a list of treasures before reaching the end point. The first team to do this with maximum points will be declared the winner of this Treasure hunt. Certain Check points may have a short event or competition where the participants must win or finish the event.

These are difficult days in our world's history. 1.75 billion People are desperately poor, natural disasters are gouging entire nations, and economic uncertainty still reigns across the globe. But you and I have been given an opportunity to make a big difference. What if we did? What if we rocked the world with hope? Infiltrated all corners with God's love and life? Let's live our lives in such a way that the world will be glad we did.

 Pragnya Challapally
 Joint Secretary, 2010-2011

A letter from the President to her members

The New President, Kedari Reddy has a message to give her members: Yet another Rotaract year passed by and what a year it has been. Unbelievable hard work, the running around and all the challenges and hardships faced on one side, and the smile you see on the face of the needy on the other... and yes, that smile outweighs the toil. It outweighs the incredible amount of fun we have trying to make THEM smile. But the truth being, it is THEY who make US smile. It is strange how they holding on to your hand the whole day fills YOU with joy. It is strange how after a day long work, when you start to feel the exhaustion and just want to go home and crash, just a "When will you come back to meet us?" or a "Thankyou for writing my exam for me" etc is enough to lighten up your day and remove all the weariness. Rotaract is not just an organisation. It is a family.. of all the needy out there and ofcourse, the Rotaractors. A really tiny family, aren't we? :) We laugh, we make others laugh, we make fun of each other, we help each other, we annoy each other but in the end, we know we love each other. We are smart and dumb. We are hard working and lazy. We are understanding and ignorant. We are sensible and crazy. We.. are rotaractors. If not for the contribution of each and every member, Rotaract Club of Hyderabad East would not have been what it is today. This year, we welcome more such passionate individuals. We are elated to have selected such wonderful people like you. A warm bear hug to all of you. So Rotaractors !! Let's give in our best for another marvelous year ahead. Hopefully, we'll make Rotaract boast of many more impactful and fun events.

The new Board has its say

The New Board has its say. Incoming President Kedari Reddy makes her speech at the installation cermony: Good evening respected Rotarians, dear Parents, and my fellow rotaractors. In the words of one of our founders, Varenya, Rotaract is what you make of it. For some of us, it is a platform to develop professional and leadership skills. For the rest, it is a means of showing goodwill towards people. For me, Rotaract is about making a difference. It's about making a difference at an individual level and to the society, on an emotional as well as materialistic level. Since it's inception, Rotaract Club of Hyderabad East has only scaled heights. Be it the fundraisers or service projects, they only kept getting bigger and better. Rotaract Club of Hyderabad East today, is a family. And we all absolutely love it. A big thank you to our parent Rotary Club for being there for us at every point and guiding us. The club wouldn't have been what it is today, without their priceless support. Acknowledging the brilliant job done by the club last year, all we can do now is make a promise. A promise to keep up with the momentum of the past two and half years and try our best to surpass it. Thank you. The Vote of Thanks by Biswadeb Das,Secretary for the Rotaract Club of Hyderabad East 2010-2011: On behalf of the Rotaract Club of Hyderabad East I would like to take this opportunity to thank all those without who this event would not have been possible. I would like to thank Rotarian Madhu Babu (President of Rotary Club dist 3150) for gracing this occasion. I would like to thank all the Rotarians who have come here today. Thanks to the Rotary club for always being there for us and supporting our every endeavor. Thank you to the past board, we promise to go on with the legacy of our club and do even better than we have. Thank You to Vijaya Kanth (DRR) for being with us on this occasion. Thank You to Tansen (IP DRR, DRT and Co-chairman Addets) for your support always and being there today as well. Thank You to all the parents for taking out time from your busy schedules and being here today. Also, we have among us members of other Rotaract clubs Thank you for taking out the time and being here today. Thank you to Vishnu who was very generous by providing us the venue for todays program A big thank you to all the members of the club who made this event possible. A special thank you to New member Padmini for the welcome song, to Pooja and Pragnya for handling the hosting of the cermony so beautifully, to Mrinmayee and the other volunteers for co-ordinating the happenings at the venue, and to all the other members who have contributed in terms of time and manpower. Thank you. We would also like to take this opportunity to thank those who are not present with us but deserve to be mentioned nevertheless. Rotarian Jawahar Vadlamani, those members who are not with us right now, but have guided us through the projects and the installation through the physical distance. Lastly, we would like to thank all those who have believed in us all through.

Installation Cermony: 2010-2011

The Rotaract Club of Hyderabad East had its installation on the 28th of August, where the third board took over and promised to take the club forward in the year of 2010-2011. The ceremony was held at The Aditya Park Inn at Ameerpet. The meeting saw speeches from the Past President Ravi Chandra, who completely moved away from his planned speech as he let his heart talk, the last year report by Akbar Ali who let us catch glimpses of moments and experiences as lived by the Rotarians last year, the incoming President promised to try and live upto the expectations,and the Rotarian President, Mr Madhu Babu promised us full support for the coming year and also gave us suggestions to improve ourselves in the coming year. Mr Vijaya Kanth (DRR)and Tansen (IP DRR, DRT and Co-chairman Addets) also motivated us through their confidence in us, and their encouraging and kind words. The New Board members were presented with their badges by Rotr Madhu Babu.

The new board is as follows: PRESIDENT : Kedari Reddy, VICE-PRESIDENT : Savit Vadlamani, SECRETARY : Biswadeb Das, JOINT-SECRETARY : Pragnya Challapally, TREASURER : Navya Akkinepally,  DIRECTOR OF FINANCE : Nikitha Reddy, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY SERVICE : Sruti Raju, DIRECTOR OF VOCATIONAL SERVICE : Prateek Reddy, DIRECTOR OF LIAISON : Tanvi Desai, DIRECTOR OF CLUB SERVICE : Mrinmayee Dhoble, . DIRECTOR FOR INTERNATIONAL SERVICE: Pooja Vaikari, DIRECTOR OF FOOD AND BEVERAGES : Abhishek Ganapa.

Along with the New board, the new recruits were formally inculcated into the club, as new members and could now call themselves Rotaractors.
The list of new members is as follows: Padmini Karamchedu, Sampoorna Gonella, Nitish Jakkani,         Prakash Dangwal, Neeharika Yadav Dayyala, Arpit Misri, Akhila Jyothy, Sheena Rao, Shruti Reddy,      Soumya Reddy, Arjun Prasad, Mohammed Abdul Majid, Prathyusha Krishna and Bhargav Ram.

Here is to hoping to another great year ahead. We wish the club the best of luck in their endeavors. After all, they have to make a difference, differently.