Our 12th Birthday Celebrations

June 26, 2010 when Rincon completed 12 years and to celebrate our entry into teens we decided to do something different. Here is what some of the team members wrote:

Bhavesh Rathod wrote:

We often celebrate our birthdays with our dear and near ones. This time it was different with Team Rincon. On our 12th birthday we visited 3 orphanages. It was really nice to see the whole team together there and would like to thank the whole team for making it special by their presence.

Sunday 27th June we visited a school at Matunga. I was stunned to see so many people waiting on the footpath (approx 150 people). Sunday friends made all the arrangements for food, packed nicely in a white box. With the help of them and some of us, food was distributed to all of them in a span of 10 minutes. I had never done this before.

Sunday friends are doing a very nice job. Many thanks to them. A drive back home made me think … People who have every thing in life … if they could donate a little food or some essential things, the needy people would not require to beg around the streets of Mumbai rather any where in the world.

Thanks Rincon for giving me the opportunity. Spare some time for people who require a little help.

Ashish Baby wrote:

Many of the Indians don’t know where their next meal is coming from or if they might even get one. On the occasion of Rincon’s 12th birthday, we decided to feed some one needy instead of ourselves. On Saturday June 26, 2010 the entire Rincon team along with our family members joined children from Shradhanand Mahilashram and BJ Home, two orphanages for lunch. We spent some quality time with the kids at Shradhanand Mahilashram. The person incharge at BJ home showed us the kitchen and explained their routine. It was a place where our spirit soared and our soul grounded. What touched our hearts tremendously was how these organisations had embraced these under privileged children of our community!

Ruchir Sharma wrote:

I had heard a lot about under privileged kids being taken care of at ashrams. For the first time experienced how they crave for love. Two incidents which I like to share:

At Shraddhanand Mahilashram, I was standing on the side when the kids were being server with Lunch. I was as usual holding a folding umbrella in my hands. There was a boy aged around 5 years who came to me and said what is this? I actually thought have these children not seen this?

After that, there was a boy who was sitting near one of the doors and I said hello to him. He said “Mama” (as usual what other kids there said) Then I touched him on his head and he was pleased. So even I went on my knees and touched his cheek. He did the same thing to me as well. He touched my head and my cheek, and when I got up to walk, he started crawling. He was an absolutely normal boy when he was sitting, never ever thought that he couldn’t walk. But God had not given him the power to stand. He had to crawl as monkeys do walk and move forward.

Both the experiences makes me feel just one thing. “Value and Thank Every Bit What God Gives Us”

Kiran Rao wrote:

On the occasion of the twelfth anniversary of Rincon, Team Rincon sponsored through Sunday Friends food packets for the welfare of the down-trodden. Sunday Friends is established with a clear concept of genuine help and they believe in “We make a living by what we get, but we make a Life by what we give”

We went to the venue and to our utter amazement we saw at least 100-150 men, women and children sitting on the footpath waiting for the food to be distributed. Sunday Friends had organised food packets and it was brought in a tempo. We were all given packets to be distributed and the volunteers of Sunday Friends clearly instructed the people to take only one packet and not to move from their place till the distribution was completed.

During the distribution, a funny incident took place. One of the volunteers was giving a packet to one lady who requested for 2 packets viz one for her and one for her child. The volunteer told her that he could not see the child anywhere. She told him that she is pregnant and the baby is inside. Obviously her request was not entertained. Meanwhile they ran out of food packets as the number of people exceeded their expectations. The volunteers requested all the people who got the food packets to move on and the people who did not get were told to be seated. Immediately they called up their resources and
arranged for some more packets. At this point of time Harshad joined us with his wife and son. The next consignment of packets was distributed by Kavya (Manish’s daughter) and Kshitij (Harshad’s son) and they were maha thrilled about it.

It was an experience worth having, I mean about feeding the destitute and less fortunate.

Priya More wrote:

Had the privilege to visit Shradhanand Mahilashram run for the benefit of destitute women and children on June 26 at 11.30 am. The smiling faces of the little children before me filled me with happiness. The children there are bright may they their future also be bright. Thanks to Rincon… got to learn something from this visit never to waste food… I promise I will never waste my food no matter how bad it can taste and how full I may be.

These include pictures of our lunch together at good old Anand Bhavan whose coffee is mind blowing and whose coffee and food shaped the early years of Team Rincon.