GOONJ....
J- 93 Sarita Vihar,
New Delhi - 110076.

Tel. -  2697 2351, 4140-1216


E- Mail :-

anshu_goonj1@yahoo.co.in
anshugoonj24@gmail.com

Dear Friends :

Let me start with a personal experience on the midnight of 1st January 2006. There were these few rickshaw pullers on the main crossing of Bharatpur bird sanctuary. A day no different from any other for them - same routine, bare minimum clothes and long nights to pass - shivering, coughing and many times in fever waiting endlessly for passengers.

BUT a small gesture of giving them a blanket definitely added a new meaning to our New Year and hopefully theirs too. We heard someone say-“ what a beautiful starting to the New Year” & “ seems that this year is going to be great for us..”

The story is quite commonplace and happens in every big city sidewalk at night when the temperature drops to minimum. I share this with you in the hope that it will drive you to take out at least one warm garment/blanket to make another person’s New Year a happier one.

More about our activities in the newsletter. Happy reading !!!

From all of us at GOONJ- wish you a meaningful, busy but fun-filled 2006.

• RAHAT- Kashmir earthquake
  Major consignments of relief material have been sent through the Indian Army and Airforce. Now with the help of local grass root organisations and committed individuals, we are targeting schools and gaps in relief work for long term work. Right now we are focusing on providing blankets and other material, given the severe weather conditions in the valley. Even after three months there are still areas which have escaped the attention of relief agencies. Contrary to general perception, there still are people who need blankets and floor mats in view of extreme cold. We are dispatching a consignment of blankets and floor mats for 500 families in this week itself.

  GOONJ also sent relief material for the earthquake hit, in Pakistan to Edhi Foundation, a well-known Pakistani organisation, through the Pakistan High Commission.

• Campaign for winters-
  RAHAT - Winters campaign is in full swing. Our volunteers are actively participating in distributing Blankets, woolens and other material on the streets of Delhi and NCR. We are also sending large quantities of such material in various villages of many states. Please support us with material, time and efforts to sustain this campaign in the coming months.

• Tsunami wastage as resource-
  In the last six months of rigorous sorting of truckloads of Tsunami wastage, GOONJ.. has been able to take out over 4 lakh units of good clothing. A large quantity has already been utilised in the Tsunami affected areas. A big consignment of woolens reached the earthquake hit in Kashmir & Pakistan apart from many other states where its going as a part of our winter campaign.

• Not just a piece of cloth..
  
  GOONJ.. began its clean cloth sanitary napkin programme “Not just a piece of cloth” by the symbolic gesture of sending the first consignment of 1000 clean cloth sanitary napkins to Vikas Trust (a local NGO) in Shikohabad. It was here that we heard the story about a woman dying of tetanus because of using a blouse (as sanitary napkin) with a hook inside. Our team has since visited Shikohabad to get a feedback on the cloth sanitary napkins and to gain a better insight into the reactions and opinions of beneficiary women and self help groups on this issue
  
  This initiative was also highlighted in the Sunday supplement of Hindu.
  Ms. Ramya Nageshwaran from Singapore also talked at length about this most neglected issue in her popular web blog .
  You can also go through a comprehensive report on our intervention for Child labour and sanitary napkin in Shikohabad & Firozabad on www.goonj.info.
  

• Mumbai Marathon-
  This year for the first time GOONJ is participating in the Mumbai Marathon in January 2006. As GOONJ is setting up operations in the city this event offers a great opportunity to spread the message and awareness among the masses. Kindly motivate your friends & relatives in Mumbai/Pune to support GOONJ. Contact Jasmine in Mumbai on 9324222219.
  
• S2S rural urban interface
  In February we are organising an interface between our urban and rural partner schools. Students from some village schools and schools of Delhi and NCR will be participating in a three day interaction. ‘Exposure’ and ‘Sensitisation’ are the operative words while considering the benefits of this event for urban schools. Rural children interacting with a different set of people and visiting new places in the city will be able to expand their horizons and broaden their vistas of knowledge. The aim is also to bridge the ‘donor-beneficiary’ divide between these two kinds of students.
  
• GOONJ.. meet
  GOONJ.. is hosting a GOONJ meet to mark the completion of 7 years of registration in February. A similar earlier gathering was an interesting forum of volunteers from corporates, schools and partner NGOs, who shared their thoughts and experiences of volunteering for GOONJ. Please get in touch with us to be a part of it.
  
• ‘SCHOOL to SCHOOL’ (S2S) takes the lead
  GOONJ’s anti cracker campaign in Delhi schools at the time of Diwali helped generate massive awareness and response in terms of material from the students. Our partner schools have also responded in a big way to GOONJ’s appeal for the earthquake-affected schools in Kashmir. Many more schools have since joined the campaign and generated school resources for their rural counterparts.
  

• Distribution and dispatch
  As GOONJ completes 7 years of registration on 18th February 2006, starting from 67 clothes it’s a remarkable milestone as we touch about 10,000 kgs of material dispatched in a month. This reflects the many fold increase in quantity and frequency of dispatch to villages (on an average - twice a week). We also continued our support to Kashmiri refugees who shift to Delhi in the winters.
  
• Your immediate support is needed –
  1. Storage and office space in Mumbai - where we now have a full time representative.
  2. Office automation equipment (New/old)- 2 computers & printers, one Laptop and a photo copying machine.
  3. Vehicle for local pick-up of material in Delhi & Mumbai.
  4. Large quantity of blankets for our winter campaign.
  5. Large quantity of one-side-used-paper for providing notebooks for rural school children & commitment of your monthly old newspapers to make GOONJ.. Self-sustained.

• ONE rupee given with each cloth – will go towards reaching it to any part of the country.
• THIRTY rupees from you– will ensure supply of notebooks for a village school kid for one year.
• FIFTY rupees – will provide a sitting mat (patti) for three children in a village school.
• HUNDRED rupees or more- on a monthly basis means added strength for Goonj to go on..
  
   

Our contact Details-

GOONJ..
Tel.- (m)-98681-46978, (o)-011-26972351
J-93, Sarita Vihar, New Delhi-44
E-mail - anshugoonj24@gmail.com
anshu_goonj1@yahoo.co.in
Website-www.goonj.info