Vol. 59 No. 40 • April 10, 2018
Dear friends,
One of the things I was apprehensive about when I was taking over as President of the RCB was the rather daunting prospect of raising money for our large, meaningful and very necessary social service projects.
Yet, I committed myself to one thing.
I would not seek funds for my Rotary year alone.
I would try and raise money for projects that did not have funding, and aim to fund them for a couple of years after my term.
That way incoming President’s could concentrate on implementing the projects well without a sword of Damocles hanging over their necks.
We planned out a fund raiser and a group of Rotarians set to work implementing the Shankar Mahadevan show as well as raising money for Bhavishya Yaan which needed funding. I am deeply grateful to them.
As you all know we raised a large and impressive amount of money for Bhavishya Yaan, money that would see the program canter along at a comfortable clip for three to four years. I thank Bharat Serums, H T Parekh Foundation, Indira Behn Kotak and Vineet Bhatnagar of Philips capital for their generosity.
Of course Rumy Jehangir and his friend Thrity Talati then gave a very large donation which will see the Phiroze R Vakil Eye center at Talwada through for a long time.
Soon after that we set about raising money for Ananda Yaan, our new and now wildly successful Elder day Care centers at Byculla and Dadar Sea Link.
Thanks mainly to the large heartedness of a young Rotarian who insists on anonymity and with the help of others, money has been raised to see it through for three years.
Then came the Cotton Green center. And here with Manoj Patodia leading the charge we have collected money to run our dental, eye and soon our child care center for the next three years.
And, we raised a significant amount of money from Manoj Israni to help complete a large and prestigious project for the Mumbai Museum in area of energy conservation.
Along the way people like Shernaz Vakil and Rajas Doshi stepped up to complete renovate two of our computer labs. And, so it has been with many many friends, who have contributed so much, to keep us in a financially sound position.
Allow me to mention two more names. Isha Mogul (who is in the 11th. standard) and Serena who is all of nine years old. These two young ladies have used their birthdays to collect money and give it to the Rotary Club of Bombay.
I salute them.