Sankalp celebrated completing 8 years since its inception on 23rd May 2003. With all rigor, the Volunteers started the preparations weeks before the Anniversary function. This year, the function for all the well-wishers and Sankalp friends was held on 21sy May in the seminar hall of M. S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology, from 2pm to 4pm. The program that began with the singing of Vande Mataram was packed with cultural events including song and dance and also a rich set of presentations and talks highlighting Sankalp's journey over the last year. A total of 70-80 guests including friends, families of volunteers, members of the blood banking community graced the occasion. All of them were welcomed by putting a tilak on their forehead and a rosette on their sleeve to make them feel specially welcomed
THE CULTURAL PROGRAM:
While a nicely choreographed Bharatnatyam performed by 2 Sankalp volunteers got the audience glued to the stage, the highly popular song “Luka Chupi” from the movie Rang De Basanti had the audience humming along with the 2 playback singers from Sankalp connecting people in that room to that unknown and brave Indian warrior who may or may not see his home and family and silently thanking his sacrifice for us. It was for the first time that a dance performance was included in Sankalp's anniversary program and it looked to have become a big hit with the performers, the volunteers and the audience having thoroughly enjoyed the same. The cultural program got even more engaging when a group of Sankalp volunteers joyfully sang a melody of some of the finest songs on patriotism. Songs like “Kadam Kadam Badye ja”,”Mera Desh Mera Mulk” and “E Watan E Watan” sent a warm chill down the spines of the gathering connecting them back to our motherland. Sankalp's Gangeet, the organizations anthem was also hummed together by the volunteers with pomp and gaiety.
TALKS AND PRESENTATIONS
Sankalp's Journey
The anniversary program is one big chance to let all our friends and well wishers know what happened over the last one year in the organization This time we followed a different approach to inform people. We listed down the 7 most major happenings at Sankalp and took people through what happened in the organization for us to realize and experience these 7 memorable achievements/events. Different volunteers came up on stage to highlight the following
1. Remembering the Tsunami: Sankalp's program on 25 Dec 2010 to mark the 6th anniversary of the deadly Tsunami
2. Launch of the Sankalp Patrika: Marking the beginning of a new era in news broadcast at Sankalp
3. 10th ITPL Blood Donation Drive: Celebrating organizing 10 blood donation drives @ ITPL, Bangalore in a span of 4 years
4. Bombay Blood Group Expertise Build Up: Sankalp Emergency Wing's tireless efforts to find donors of the rarest of rare categories
5. Workshop On Blood Components: Sankalp's First State Level Workshop on Blood Components organized with ISBTI, Karnataka and NIMHANS
6. Disha Re-Energisation: Improving the infrastructure at the Sankalp State Wide Blood Helpline Call Centre
7. Spirit Of Humanity Awards: Sankalp's first major recognition in 8 years. Winning the Spirit of Humanity Awards for 2011
Apart from these talks, a general overview of the challenges, achievements, failures, finances etc was also presented in a 15 minute presentation by our President, Rajat Agarwal. A full blown 10 minute video going into depths of working teams further enhanced the understanding of Sankalp for the audience. These talks and presentations were spread right across the program, well interleaved with cultural events thereby helping people to engage better with the proceedings. Just to check the attentiveness of the audience, a small quiz session was conducted, where questions were based on the presentations and talks given by volunteers. It was seen that most questions were well answered by people, proving that they were really into the sequence of events unfolding before them.
New Volunteers Speak Out
The newbies at Sankalp opened the Pandora's Box of their minds as well. Being the fresh blood who have revived the other volunteers’ energies with their fresh ideas, these volunteers spoke out their heart during the function. As with most of us, they were initially filled with doubts, later with the passage of time their journey in Sankalp has given them different statements of purpose. While they expressed their feelings in front of their family, friends and other well-wishers of the Organization, their emotions were clearly heard in their voices and seen on their faces.
Guests Speak
The program was attended by many friends and well wishers and parents of volunteers. Some of them came up to speak as well. Dr NandKishore, Blood Bank Officer of MSR Hospital spoke of his long association with Sankalp and how the partnership has gone on to make a difference in the lives of many people. He expressed his gratitude and also encouraged volunteers to keep Walking and never lie down. A parent of one of our volunteer proclaimed that he was proud his child was with such an organization and that today his doubts about what really was all this organization about has been cleared. He too wished us to move ahead and embrace the challenges and expressed confidence that we will be able to make a difference.
CELEBRATIONS
After all the cultural and yearly activities unfolded, it was time for some celebrations Dr NandaKishore unveiled the yearly magazine of Sankalp, “Abhivyakti – 2011” amidst a big applause. Finally parents and family members of volunteers were invited on stage to cut the big cake proclaiming to the world that we are 8 today. This was the beginning of a long evening of celebrations for the volunteers. The program finally concluded with the singing of the national anthem. High Tea along with some sweets and savories were served to the distinguished guests after a photograph of the entire gathering was taken. In the refreshment area a beautiful gallery of posters used by Sankalp, the paintings and essays prepared by school children on blood donation were displayed. A beautiful Rangoli was also sketched to mark the colour and festivities of the event.
PEOPLE SPEAK
While the snacks were served, one of the parents was looking around the posters and galleries outside the seminar hall. When asked about the program, she said that she wasn’t aware of so many things that were told during the program, about blood, blood donation and other related things. She expressed her happiness about how the young people showed responsibility to work for a cause.
Some of the others who were present at the function had this to say about our program.
“Kudos to all the initiatives taken up by Sankalp. Keep up the good work.”
“It is a pleasure to be here and hearty wishes to the Sankalp team always!!”
“It is nice to be associated with Sankalp India Foundation” – Blood Bank Officer.
“Always inspired by the work done by volunteers of Sankalp. Hats off Sankalp India Foundation. Keep up the good work” – An employee from a company where Sankalp organizes Blood Donation drives.
It was an eventful gathering that made volunteers believe that they are on the right lines to bring a change. Volunteers regrouped together for a dinner and celebrated all evening. The spirit to “Give Life Another Chance” only got more refined and rejuvenated by the end of the day and gave a big boost to volunteers to look at the challenges coming up in the new year for Sankalp.