A timeline of transformation
An overview of all the projects we’ve executed to date
September 2015
• The trustees of Shanthi Sparsh identified a family in Kochi who were struggling to make both ends meet as the bread winner had suffered a stroke.
The Trust helped the two children of the family by contributing their full school fees for the academic year 2016-17.
• The trust identified a domestic help in Thiruvananthapuram who was diagnosed with cancer and needed immediate surgery. The case was evaluated and necessary financial help for the medical procedure was arranged.
July 2018 &
March 2019
• The trustees of Shanthi Sparsh identified a milk vendor in Bangalore with two academically brilliant daughters, who had no financial muscle to educate them. One of the girls had got
admission for her Plus 2 in Bangalore and the other scored very high marks for Plus 1. The trust supported the eldest daughter for the Plus 2 course by sponsoring complete course fee, while the younger daughter’s education got funding from like-minded, generous individuals.
• The most devastating floods hit Kerala in August 2018 and many lost their lives and several more lost their houses and furniture. To help the victims, Shanthi Sparsh donated ₹50,000 to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
Shanthi Sparsh trustees came across a case in Bangalore of a vegetable vendor’s wife undergoing treatment for breast cancer. Her husband was struggling to meet the treatment expense and the Trust made a generous contribution for the chemotherapy expenses of this patient.
July 2019
Shanthi Sparsh contributed ₹36,000/- to Saradha Math, a non-profit organisation in Thrissur, Kerala. The Math runs a school where students study up to grade ten. The beneficiary of the contribution was a ten-year-old girl from Nagpur. Her father had abandoned the family and her mother, who was the only support of the family, was undergoing treatment for Myelo fibrosis, which could be fatal. The girl was brought to the ashram by team from Nagpur and on hearing the story the Trust decided to fund her hostel expenses for a year.
November 2019
Through a media correspondent, a case was brought to Shanthi Sparsh where a casual labourer in Kerala who had lost his job and was thrown in more difficulty as his wife, who used to work as a sweeper, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. All these problems came together for him when he started to construct a one-room accommodation through government aid. As his wife was ill, he had to use the aid money for medical expenses. His request was for help to complete the one-room accommodation so that he could bring back his wife to a sterile environment. Your trust donated ₹50,000/- in two instalments towards the medical expense as reimbursement so that he could complete the construction.
By a cruel stroke of fate, the wife of an artist from Bangalore was diagnosed with SMA Thrombosis and Guillain-Barre syndrome, in 2013. The
expenses for her treatment led him to bankruptcy so that he was unable to finance the medical education of his son, a bright student. Shanthi Sparsh stepped in and sponsored part of his education expenses during his second year. As he scored high marks in his second year, your trust sponsored part of his fees in the third year too. Given the good performance of the student in the third year, the trust sponsored his final year course fee by contributing ₹55,000.
Mr. Umapati, a casual labourer in Bangalore was struggling to pay the fees for his two children. His main income was through washing cars, while his wife worked as a domestic help. Their daughter, who was in grade six, had to pay her last instalment school fee for the academic year 2019-20. The trust contributed ₹4,350 directly to the school so that there was no break in her studies. Since the child got promoted with good academic scores, the trust decided to fund her education for the academic year 2020-21 by contributing ₹14,300 in June.
• Mr Vasudevan, a retired security guard in Bangalore, sought help for his prostate cancer treatment and also for shoulder fracture treatment. His family was struggling with the meagre income. Shanthi Sparsh reimbursed ₹17,357 of his treatment expenses.
April 2020
• Ms. Shafna, a 25-year-old woman, was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago. She had been married for just three months at the time of diagnosis. Her husband abandoned her on hearing this. Shafna, the fighter, did not give up and was determined to overcome this setback. She needed multiple surgeries for the treatment and is disease free but she needed a little help along the way. As the breadwinner of her family, her only source of income was stitching for customers living within a commutable distance. Shafna was confident that if she had a scooter then she would not only be able to fulfil all her present orders, but also increase her area of operations so that her business could grow enough for her to employ other young women like her. She dreamt of empowering them by helping them stand on their own feet and being financially independent.
Ms. Shafna was truly worthy of getting a helping hand from the trust as she stood as a symbol of empowerment of women, courage and determination. Shanti Sparsh applauded her spirit and encouraged her to face the future with stars in her eyes and her feet firmly on the earth with a new scooter and a contribution of ₹75,000.
• COVID-19, the new problem, was hanging around for some more time. As a part of immediate COVID-19 rehabilitation project, Shanthi Sparsh also started contributing in a very small way. Udayannur temple in Maruthankuzhy, Thiruvananthapuram, was providing lunch packets to four hundred people from weaker economic class who were under quarantine, on a daily basis. Your trust contributed ₹10,000/- for one-day meal
packets for four hundred people.
Ms. Rajam, an amputee, who stays in Kerala with her aged mother, approached the trust for support to empower her to move on in life. She had developed a small black patch on the dorsum of her left leg when she was 10-years old. Along with this she had severe pain in that leg. She was seen by the local doctor and since there was no relief they went to Calicut Medical College. The black patch progressed and finally the whole limb up to the knee was infected knee amputation was done. She was moving around with prosthesis, living with meagre income from a small telephone booth and her aged mother’s family pension. Recently, she developed a black patch over her malleoli near the right ankle and got treated using the balance amount of the loan she received to purchase a photocopying machine and assistance she got from government hospital. With the COVID situation, her current business was not fetching her any income and Shanthi Sparsh came forward to support her for her welfare and donated ₹25,000/-.
Ms. Gopika Manoj, along with her younger sister, jointly participated in a quiz reality show in a leading Malayalam channel and out of sixty episodes they stood first, bagging a prize money of Rupees three lakhs! Their father, who lost a factory job, was running a petty shop in Idukki, Kerala, and had helped one of his closest friends with a loan ₹5 lakhs to purchase a tempo vehicle to carry labourers to tea estates, by borrowing the money. He had hoped to earn some money out of that from the amount his friend had promised as monthly repayments. However, after few instalments, his friend stopped repaying the money and the vehicle also met with a serious accident! The balance loan liability of Rupees five lakhs and fifty thousand fell on the father and to repay this liability, the girls participated in the quiz show and repaid it with the prize money. During the show, the family was introduced and they revealed all their problems and Ms Gopika’s aspirations. She had secured high marks for her B.Com examination and desired to qualify chartered accountancy but given their financial condition she could not join the course. The trust, with the help of a chartered accountancy firm, helped her to join a firm as an intern and the trust agreed to meet her CA course fees for three years and secured her a laptop! The first year fee of ₹27,700/- was paid in October 2020 and also ₹26,300/- was given for new laptop!
November 2020/January 2021
The trust received an aid application from Mr. Thotsem Muinao, who was pursuing bachelor’s degree in hotel management in Bangalore. He hailed from Manipur, stayed in orphanages in the city as his parents in Manipur had no means to educate him. Mr. Thotsem, an academically bright student, got enrolled in hotel management course under the vocational programme run by Tata Institute of Social Science. Though an NGO came forward to take care of his accommodation, he was looking for a trust to sponsor his education. Shanthi Sparsh trustees did due diligence with the institute and decided to help him to complete his graduation by paying the fee of ₹22,600/- to complete his second year graduation and ₹11,300/- in January 2021 for the final semester.
January 2021
Ms.Vaishnavi S, a studious final year post graduate student at National Institute of Speech & Hearing applied for financial help for her course. Her education fee was dependent on her mother’s income who worked a kindergarten school teacher in Tamil Nadu. Given the COVID crisis, her mother’s salary got affected and the family had no income. The trust rose up to the occasion and contributed Rs.30000/- to the institute against her fee for the year 2020-21.
Given good academic performance of Mr Thotsem Muinao (whom the trust supported for education in November 2020 and January 2021), support was extended for the final year to complete his course. The trust contributed Rs. 11,300/- towards this cause. Later final instalment of Rs 22,600/-was contributed in June 2021.
Mr. Sachin Nadhan, who was receiving the trust’s support to complete his medical course graduated with high marks! Shanthi Sparsh Charitable Trust congratulates Dr. Sachin Nadhan!
COVID-19 crisis continued to hit the education sector and given the online classes in schools many economically challenged students were struggling to get a computer/smartphone. SMV Higher Secondary School Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala approached the trust to render help to few economically challenged students of 11th and 12th grades. The trust purchased nine smart phones at the cost of ₹50,000/- and donated to nine economically challenged students so that their studies were not affected due to the pandemic.
Mr. Thotsem Muinao, who was pursuing bachelor’s degree in hotel management in Bangalore and had availed the trust’s financial help in academics, graduated with high marks and got successfully placed at a luxury resort in Coorg as a management trainee. Shanthi Sparsh Charitable Trust congratulates Mr. Thotsem Muinao!
Mr Abhilash Mohan, a physically challenged and immobile person from Thiruvananthapuram who was running a toy shop for his livelihood, approached the trust for help in upgrading his shop. The trust evaluated his request and donated a printer and spiral-binder machine at a cost of Rs. 20,925 for upgrading his services at the shop.
It was brought to the notice of the Trust about a group of women at Kallimala tribal area, Agali, Kerala trying to make both ends meet by stitching garments and supplying them to a vendor in the local market.
Their main hurdle was that they couldn’t meet the demand, as they had only one sewing machine and, many of them lacked proper training in stitching the garments.
The Trust came to know that Swami Vivekananda Medical Mission in Agali was ready to give training to these women to enable them to start a readymade garment unit, subject to the availability of sufficient number of sewing machines.
The trust thus contributed ₹1,50,000 to purchase ten sewing machines. The handing over of these sewing machines was held at Kallimala Kirathamoorthi temple premises on the 24th June, 2022.
Swami Vivekanda Medical Mission will impart necessary training to these women, so as to enable them to generate a small income of their own.
During the occasion, the women of the group thanked Shanthi Sparsh for helping them to contribute to the financial needs of their families.
Being a part of this Women’s Empowerment initiative is a great achievement for Shanthi Sparsh.
Parents of baby Riyah, three year old kid, who was suffering from blood cancer and was getting treated at HCG hospital in Bangalore contacted the trust for financial help for treatment. As per the medical report the complete duration of treatment would be two tears and estimated total cost for the treatment was Rs 19,00,000/- Your trust felt the need to help the child and contributed Rs50,000/- directly to the hospital for chemo treatment.
The trustees of Sri Sailapathi Middle School, Alwarkurichi, Tamil Nadu, approached the trust for support in maintaining the school infrastructure.
Sri Sailapathi Education Trust was involved in rebuilding the ninety-year-old school, which was the only middle school in that village.
Shanthi Sparsh trustees who physically visited the premises, were briefed on the smart village by kids who were the students at the school.
The school had done a lot of good work in educating the children of the village and, during the visit of the trustees, the need for a good computer lab was felt.
Your trust agreed to contribute towards building and setting up a computer lab by donating ₹4,97,000. The trustees also influenced the management of IT giant Infosys to contribute a few computers to the school. The computer lab is currently being built and will be operational from June 2024.
The cumulative contribution as on March 2024, stands at ₹23,55,000