The IMPA Bangalore team was inspired by the clarion call by Mrs. Suman to pitch in this Diwali with their dressy clothes as donations.
The Bangalore team that worked towards creating a clothes bank before Diwali included Ami Patel, Sakshi, Neha Bharat, Moutushi, Aditi, Abhilasha, Panna, Shruti, Swati,Indumathi Rajanikanth, Maninder, Uzma, Kanupriya, Jasbir Baweja, Gopal and Leema Bernad Viji.
Volunteers for the activity helped in various ways. Some of them collected clothes in good condition, sorted it out at their residences and then transported it to the ICBI offices at St.Marks and Koramangala. The others donated their own good clothes and some donated large travel bags. Indumathi, Jasbir & Neha helped in sorting the clothes in different categories and packed them into carry bags.
The first lot of clothes approximately 350 garments, were donated to Vincent De Paul Society in HAL from where they will be distributed by their members to a small village called Malur in Karnataka. The Second batch was transported by Jasbir to Rakum school of Blind, in Indiranagar. The third batch was donated to the cleaning staff of Shilton Heights to be worn by them for Diwali.
The last batch was donated to an organization called ‘Home of Hope’ run by Auto Raja on the outskirts of Bangalore. The clothes were transported to the home by Leema and Jasbir.
Auto Raja leads a team of people in rescuing distressed destitute from the streets like Mother Teresa used to do. At the start of the day Raja and his team from the home scout the streets for destitute in need of immediate help and bring them in .This act of saving the needy is not easy as often it is mistaken for a crime as a way to do illegal organ transplantation. As the Hoysala team of the Police is aware of the work, they do not get into unhappy situations. It been close to twenty years that the HOME OF HOPE has rescued 5,000 people from the streets of Bangalore. More than 1500 people have been restored in good health to their families. Some have been rejected by their families and are taken care by Auto Raja and his team. Each day at the home is a challenge. Some who arrive at the home survive for only hours or days. On the day IMPA -Bangalore visited them, there were four deaths. Every month 20 inmates die due to their diseases. On a daily basis they need space, water, electricity, food for 450 inmates , clothes, medicines, toiletries, care & counsel, friendship, entertainment – anything that an ill or abandoned person needs. HOME OF HOPE is where those who are discarded as sheer garbage , in moribund condition on the streets find hope and sometimes die due to AIDS, TB, Cancer, liver problems and mental illnesses.
You can visit the HOME OF HOPE at Doddagubbi village, KRC road, Bangalore. Their contact details are 080 65997274 / 080 28445509. E-mail raja@newarkmission.org
On 24th November 2015, Auto Raja was honoured with the Mother Teresa Memorial Award for Social Justice in Mumbai for his Exemplary work.