Flood Relief
Devastating rains in western regions of Maharashtra led to deaths and destruction in the cities, towns and villages especially in the Konkan region. Thousands of families lost their belongings. Absence of drinking water and electricity in the aftermath of the floods aggravated the situation. The faculty and staff of GIPE immediately responded to the need of the hour and contributed and collected an amount more than 50 thousand rupees in a day. The collected fund was utilised to purchase food grains and other essential commodities for distribution in villages Kol and Wadavli situated in the interior part in Mahad taluka of district Raigad. Faculty and staff of the Institute visited the villages in the months of July 2021 and distributed water bottles and packets of the essential groceries to around 100 affected families. The staff also visited village Dalwatne in Ratnagiri district in August 2021 during heavy rains and distributed blankets and utensils among the villagers after collaborating with the Gram panchayat officials of the villages.
Fundraiser for Covid-19 relief
April 2021 witnessed the second wave of COVID-19 infections, placing the health infrastructure around the nation in a precarious position than previous year. NGOs and private organizations demonstrated themselves as potential assistants to help us recover at a quicker pace. The Alumni Committee saw such potential in HelpNow, an initiative of the IIT-Bombay and AIIMS Alumnus.
HelpNow is dedicated towards providing safe and quick ambulance services to the needy patients in the cities of Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and Pune. During the pandemic, HelpNow has ramped up efforts to aid COVID-19 patients.
GIPE Alumni Committee organized a fundraiser for HelpNow as we believed it would lend support to the organization when it was highly needed. The Committee launched a crowdfunding initiative where everyone from the GIPE community as well as outsiders could be contributors to the cause.
The Committee circulated Google Forms amongst the entire GIPE family asking them to contribute to the cause. We also spread the word through platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn The funds were raised with the help of a reliable crowdfunding platform ‘Ketto’. The platform allowed us to receive donations in INR as well as in foreign currencies, such as GBP & USD.
The Committee raised Rs. 1,38,400 from 56 donors in a week-long campaign starting from April 26th and concluding on May 1st, 2021. We are happy to report that we not only received donations from our Alums but also received donations from people outside our Alumnus. The most generous donation was of $200 made by Bhumika Dhotre, an alumni of our institution.
The Committee believed in donating in kind from the amount collected, which was used to buy health essentials such as:
1. N95 Masks (216 pieces)
2. Latex hand gloves (50 boxes)
3. Bedsheets (501 pieces)
4. PPE kits (454 pieces)
5. Hand sanitizer (40 pieces)
These essentials reached HelpNow on May 11th, 2021.
HelpNow and the GIPE Alumni Committee are extraordinarily grateful to the donors. Their belief in our cause enabled us to lend a helpful hand. The fight against this crisis is not possible without such overwhelming support.
Donation of Computers
An important aspect of teaching and learning is usage of digital tools and techniques. Creation of suitable infrastructure for digitisation especially in rural areas is extremely important. In view of this, the Institute on the occasion of the Republic Day, January 26, 2021, donated a set of 10 computers to the Zilla Parishad Primary School and one computer to the Priyadarshani Public Library in village Gubal of Ausa taluka in district Latur of Maharashtra.
Donation of Books
Margika Workshop for Special Kids, July 2019
A workshop for Special Kids was organised by the Institute in association with Hyderabad based NGO Margika. The aim of the workshop was to equip stakeholders with effective tools and build capacities. Dr. Neena Rao, Alumnus of the Institute and Founder of Margika, conducted the day long workshop wherein more than 60 people participated.
Collection Drive for Flood Affected Citizens of Pune, August 2019
The Alumni Committee 2019-20 of the Institute in collaboration with NGO SWaCH initiated a Collection Drive for helping flood affected citizens of Pune in the month of August in 2019. The relief supplies including clothing, bedsheets, footwear, food items, sanitary napkins, toiletries etc were collected from students and teaching and non teaching staff and were handed over to Kashtakari Panchayat, the organisation working for vulnerable sections of the society in Pune.
Visit of Jammu Kashmir School Children to the Institute, January 2020
The students of Gokhale Institute represent various regions of the country. The institute recognises the need to strengthen interaction among students from different parts of the country. The Institute therefore collaborated with Aseem Foundation which works in the border regions of India. One of their initiatives has been organisation of tours for students from border areas to various cities of India for introducing them to cultural heritage and various regions and people of India. Under this initiative, the Foundation had organised a tour of school children from Uri and Budgam regions of from Jammu and Kashmir to Pune. Gokhale Institute invited these students on the Institute campus on January 30, 2020. The interaction between the visiting students and students of the Institute was filled with exhilaration, excitement and enthusiasm. The children thoroughly enjoyed the evening at the at the Institute campus under the Banyan tree.
Saluting our Jawans, 2020
Gokhale Institute collaborated with Aseem Foundation, Pune to showcase solidarity with our armed forces who displayed extraordinary courage and valour while defending our frontiers during the standoff with China. A wall of around 300 photographs of family members / individuals holding lamp/ candle were sent to our jawans to salute them, to encourage them and to appreciate their services for the nation.
