School children collect Rs 15 lakh for drought relief

Students of Cathedral and John Connon school at Fort collected Rs 15 lakh by selling T-shirts and diverting funds set aside for sports and cultural events to alleviate the problems of the people living in the drought affected parts of the state. The school board for education of children in the drought-affected areas contributed another '5 lakh and handed over the amount collected by the students to the Nana Patekar-led Naam foundation recently. The students have made similar contributions in the past to help the victims of the Uttarakhand tragedy, as well as families affected by the Kashmir floods.

Speaking about the initiative, Meera Isaacs, principal of the school, said that the students hit upon the idea of collecting funds after watching a presentation made by an alumni highlighting the condition of the drought affected areas in state. “The students were moved by the scenes of parched lands, abandoned children, some younger than them and decided to do something by raising funds. They also pooled in money set aside for sports and social events and even raised funds by selling T-shirts,” she said, adding that the personal experience of the chairman of the school after visiting a village where a young mother had committed suicide was also instrumental in spurring the students into action.

Ms Isaacs further said, “We handed over Rs 15 lakh to Naam Foundation, led by actors Nana Patekar and Makrand Anaspure and another Rs 5 lakh was contributed by the school board for education of children in the drought-affected areas.”

Incidentally, CM Devendra Fadnavis’ daughter Divija is a student of the school. However, students preferred to hand over the collected amount to an NGO rather than contribute it to the CM’s drought relief fund.

The students of the school had undertaken similar drives in the past too resulting in a contribution of '45 lakh for the Uttarakhand tragedy and Rs 22 lakh for the Kashmir flood victims. The school had contributed towards drought relief through NGO Dilasa last year too.