For Newsletter March 2009

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FIST OF

RICE

At this very moment, when you are reading this you are probably saying to yourself: Now, what is

this? Funny saying FIST OF RICE! What in the world is that?

FIST OF RICE is a non profit organisation with the mission to eradicate hunger from the Indian

society. Now, you must be thinking: Well, there you go! Another NGO out to save the world! How

many of this kind have we not seen? Besides, is hunger even a problem in India? Maybe in the un-

der developed third world nations but not India!

You simply couldnt have been farther from the truth. Yes, FIST OF RICE is a NGO. But, more

than that it is an idea! An idea, so simple that each one of us can be a part of it yet so grand, it can

change the life of 200 million in India who go to bed hungry every night! Did you know that every

year 7 million kids in India do not reach even their 8th birthday just because they did not get enough

food to eat? The facts in the right column may surprise you, but they are true.

THIS HAS TO CHANGE!

So, what is the big idea? And in what way can I help? you may ask. Again, we say it is in the

name itself and is based on the simple principle of community sharing. If each one of you on two

days of every month gets a fist of rice on your schools or organizations Rice for life day, you

would have done your part in making our society a better and happier place. These grains are then

mobilised by our volunteers to the needy old age and child homes across Goa. A simple sharing of

whatever we the lucky ones have with the not-so-lucky of the community will go a long way inchanging our world.

How can a fist of rice change the world?

A regular Indian family of four consumes 200 Kgs of rice in a year. A person on an average needs

50 Kgs of rice a year. A fist of rice weighs 35gms. Put the same numbers in number of fists of rice a

person consumes in a day. It works out to 2 fists of rice a day.So, the little fists of rice each one of

you gives every month feeds a person for one day. Simple isnt it?

An Idea called Fist of Rice Did you know?

Hunger remains the No.1cause of death in the world.Aids, Cancer etc. follow .

1/3rdof the worlds hungrylive in India.

Over 2,500,000 Indians die

of hunger every year.

30% of newborn are of lowbirth weight, 56% of mar-ried women are anaemicand 79% of children age 6-35 months are anaemic.

Inside this issue:

April 2009 FIST OF RICE

In My Opinion-Tejendra Lawande

2

FOR Schools 3

An Experience worth it 3

WOWlunteer for FOR 4

Highlights of our work in Goa in the past month include (Figures are collections in kgs):

1. Kiran Niketan, Birla 44.15

2. MES Higher Secondary School, Zuarinagar 92.85

3. MES College of Arts and Commerce, Zuarinagar 191.00

4. Government High School, Mangoor Hill 50.00

5. Navy Children School, Chicalim 215.00

6. Kendriya Vidyalaya No.1, Vasco-da-gama 279.00

7. Kendriya Vidyalaya No.2, Vasco-da-gama 127.00

Total: 999kg

All facts and figures have been com-

piled from bhook.com which has beenderived based on:

UN World Health Organization:

Global Database on Child Growth

and Malnutrition, 2006

UN Food and Agriculture Organi-

zation: SOFI 2006 Report

National Commission for Enter-

prises in the Unorganized Sector

(India)

National Family Health Survey

200506 (NFHS-3) (India)

UN World Food Programme

Centre for Environment and Food

Security (India)

The collected grains were distributed to three institutions

Our Home - Bogmalo

Love India Charitable Trust, Sancoale

Boys Orphanage, Agassaim


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Page 2 FIST OF RICE

In My Opinion

The situation of under nourishment and malnutrition is so grim in a promising and developing coun-try like India that it is worth stopping for while to ponder whether the development and strides that

we are making are really the goal of our existence. With so much distress around us, we should be

thinking whether monetary gains is all that is to life.

I have experienced that even sharing just a small morsel of food with the distressed and unfortunate

can give the satisfaction which possession of best of luxuries cannot give. Rotary Clubs around the

globe today are fighting the war on hunger especially when it concerns children of the world. Rotary

strives in its pursuit with the basic philosophy that health and hunger take the precedence over other

sufferings.

I was personally amazed to learn that such a young band of good souls could come with such a noble

and unique concept, that is the Fist Of Rice. It took me a while to digest albeit with gratitude that

such young individuals, and that too students, are sensitive to the needs of the unfortunate and it was

solace to me to realize that Indians are still and will be firmly connected to our culture and values.

Elders always say that there is no better pious activity than offering food to the needy.

My humble submission to you all at Fist Of Rice will be to please nurture and let flourish this act of

giving and make this organization of yours a role model for our future generations. Organisations like

Rotary will always be at your side encouraging and supporting you all to fulfill your purpose of life.

Our club secretary Rtn. Santosh Lotlikar shared with me his views that he was touched by the sensi-

tivity that your members showed for the needy. I pray that Fist Of Rice will grow manifolds for thesake of the millions of hungry souls.

Rtn. Tejendra Lawande ,President, Rotary Club of Vasco-da-Gama.I have experiencedthat even sharing just

a small morsel of food

with the distressedand unfortunate can

give the satisfaction

which possession of

best of luxuries cannot

give.

-Rtn. Tejendra La-wande

What is FORs long term vision?

At FOR, we envision an India without chronic hunger. We aim to create a system which

effectively utilizes food resources in the country. We foresee that by creating a culture of

sharing in the society and motivating the youth to work for the welfare of the nation, the

Indian hunger crisis can be easily overcome.

What is FOR-Goa Chapters immediate goal?

FOR Goa Chapter was started in September 2008. Currently we have 9 donor schools and

colleges and 3 recipient organisations. The team has mobilized 999kg of rice since its in-

ception. Our immediate goal is to build a network of 50 schools, 20 colleges and 10 re-

cipient organisations by August 2009.

The People behindFOR

We are a group of

young engineers, doc-

tors and professionals

who wish to create

real-lasting value to

solve the growing

problems of hunger

and food shortage.

The Goa Chapter is

run by student volun-

teers from BITS Pilani

Goa Campus, Zuari-

nagar. Software engi-

neers and IT profes-

sionals in Chennai

handle and coordinate

the various manage-

ment and back end

tasks of Fist Of Rice.

FOR expands its reachin the northwestern

regions of India by

launching another

chapter in Pilani, Ra-

jasthan through stu-

dent volunteers in

BITS PilaniPilani

Campus


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There are lots of

destitute and poor people

whom FOR has helped me

to feed. Our institution

requires Rs. 18000/- every

month for rice. FOR

helped us and I am very

grateful

Dr Carla Souza

Founder

Our Home, Bogmalo

Why?During our initial survey in

Goan orphanages and old age

homes, we found that a major-ity of charitable institutions

are finding it difficult to make

ends meet. It came out that

most of them rely on small

circles of generous donors to

contribute in difficult times.

The survey strengthened our

belief that the situation could

improve quite easily and sus-

tainably if the idea of school

and college students in Goa

contributing a "fist of rice

grains" was put into action.

How?We have a simple operating

strategy.

1. Plan the collection during ameeting with the institution

head.

2.Organise the collection

( arranging and transporting

the containers to and fro)

3. Hand over the collected

grains to the recipient organi-

zation.

Our volunteers take care of

the entire process. All we ask

is your consent to bring smiles

to more faces.

When?Lets talk now! Please contact

us on +919823715372 or

+919881884234 or email us [email protected]. A volun-

teer from Fist Of Rice will get

in touch with you regarding

the possible ways of contribu-

tion. Our next collection

drives are in August and Oc-

tober 2009. Lets join hands

and change Goa!

As this is the first edition of the newsletter, it would be appropriate to begin with how

the first school that we approached helped us kick start our venture. Incidentally, it wasnt one

but, two at a time that started off the FOR campaign. The MES College of Arts and Commerce and

the MES Higher Secondary School, Zuraingar.

We started off with discussions with the Principal of MES College, Mr. Hajirnis about

FOR and its objectives. He welcomed the idea with open arms and directed us to the NSS faculty

coordinator of the college, Mr. Satyavan Naik. It was an immense stroke of luck on our part that

we approached the right people and the right institution on our first day out. Had it not been for

their initial support and encouragement, FOR wouldn't have scaled the heights that it has. Mr

Satyavan also had encouraging words for us and wanted the college to be a part of the campaignimmediately. But, he had some obvious reservations about the program. Our discussions in-

cluded questions like "How do we arrange collection containers?", "What mode of transport of

rice grains should we use?", "What do we do about the different varieties of rice that the students

would bring?", "Should it be compulsory for all students?" etc. We assured him that the arrange-

ment of containers and transport would be solely our responsibility; and that the orphanages are

happy to receive rice grains, even though they are mixed to some extent (keeping in mind that

majority of the rice grains from a locality belong to same variety).

Finally it was decided that the collection would be a part of the NSS Day Celebrations of

MES College. We volunteered to go to each class on the previous day of the collection and speak

to the students about Fist Of Rice. So, 24th September 2008 arrived in all its glory! We had al-

ready delivered the rice containers to the college. By our calculations, we had estimated that we

would get around 50kg of rice. We were thinking that if we receive around 75kg that will be agreat collection. Mr. Satyavan had told us he would take care of the storage of the collected

grains and that we could transport it in the evening. We called him in the afternoon to check how

the collection was going.

Now, this is something we never expected. He burst out with the news that all the containers are

full. They had to use 5 extra containers from the college to store the grains. Oh! That was really

great news to us. Containers overflowing - we never expected that even in our wildest dreams.

The recipient organization - "Our Home", Bogmalo - headed by Dr. Carla Souza was ready to come

immediately to receive the grains. The grains were handed over to them. Guess the quantity?? A

whooping 141kg - almost twice our expectation. So...end of story. That was the first collection. .

FOR is growing stronger and stronger by day. Let's make it happen - Lets KILL hunger!

Page 3 FIST OF RICE

An Experience worth the experience

School of RiceHow we can help ourselves

By Rasagy Sharma

QUICK FOR FACTS>>Kendriya Vidyalaya No.1, Vasco-da-gama (279.00 kgs) has been

the single largest donor as of now.

Navy Childrens School Vascocomes second with 215 kgs on a

single day.

>>The first FOR collection was on11-Sep-08

>>Currently, FOR directly pro-vides for the daily food require-

ments of more than 100 people in

Goa.


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Down

1. Committed to a cause for

the joy of it

3. Khrarif, rabi and India's

staple diet refers to...

Across

2. One of the 3 basic re-

quirements to live.

4. You can use it it to box

your enemy or save the

world,the choice is yours!

Think You can be One?Check Your FOR IQ!

WOW lunteer

FOR Campus Ambassador

To achieve the immediate goal and

other short term goals, FOR requires a

strong volunteer base. Volunteers are the

lifeline of Fist Of Rice. They are the power

of the community expressing caring and

sharing through the work they do.

We are looking for volunteers for a

variety of tasks ranging from design work to

organizing grain collections. If you would

like to volunteer please contact us at

Email :[email protected]

Mobile: +919823715372

Prove your mettle by becoming a FOR

College Ambassador. We expect ambassa-

dors to publicize FOR and organize grain

collections at their college.

What do you get?

To be a valuable part of the growing

FOR community will be an enriching ex-

perience for you. You can learn the nuts and

bolts of project management and marketing.

You will also get certificates and goodies

like personalized Tshirts, accessories etc.

Progress is impossible with-

out change, and those who

cannot change their mindscannot change anything

-George Bernard Shaw

The smallest act of kind-

ness is worth more than

the grandest intention

-Oscar Wilde

FIST OF RICE

Contact Us: Please contact us on +919823715372 or +919881884234 or email us at [email protected]

Fist of Rice

If you are an enthusi-

astic college student

who wants to start Fist

Of Rice operations in

your college, this is

your chance.

Project volunteers

Our immediate goal is to build a strong network of schools, colleges, old age homes and orphanages. We would like

to complete the project by August 2009. To complete the project we need around 65 volunteers and Rs. 10000 in funds. Weare looking for volunteers who can engage themselves in part-time work. A typical volunteers work will be centered

around contacting various organisations (donors and recipients); talking to them about FOR; meeting them; and spreading

awareness. You will be required to spend 2-3 hours(on a average) every week for this work. Positively contributing to the

community around you can be one of the joyful experiences. If you would like to join hands with us on this project, please

contact us at [email protected]. (Dont forget to mention that you are a project volunteer!)

Spread the word

The Simplest and yet the most important thing

you could do to help make the world a better

place to live in is by spreading the word about

us. You could join our blog and express yourviews at http://blog.fistofrice.org/ or everytime

you come across a group of people who you

think could help us, you can show them this

newsletter or just get us in touch with them.

Lastly but not the least you could make us a

part of your friend list on popular social net-

working sites and see the world transformed!

Special volunteers

Our special volunteers constitute

the group of people who pitch in their

talents and skills to help FOR grow in the

right direction. Artists, designers, writers,singers, managers, entrepreneurs, social-

itesjust about anyone who has the de-

sire to contribute meaningfully constitute

this group. If you are talented in any field

and would like to be part of FOR, this is

your chance!
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]

Documents

For Newsletter March 2009