Over 42,000 Woodworkers Contributed Labour In A Unique Pan-India Community Initiative

Woodworkers provided their labour free of cost for a day to repair and refurbish furniture as part of the Shram Daan Divas

Mumbai, December 22, 2015: Fevicol bonded over 42000 woodworkers and contractors, in a unique pan-India community initiative – SHRAM DAAN DIVAS on December 20^th and 21st December 2015. Quite literally put, these 42,000 woodworkers and contractors donated a day’s labour free of cost to repair and refurbish furniture at around 800 NGOs, beneficiary schools, hospitals and institutions for underprivileged children. Organised under the auspices of the Fevicol Champions Club (FCC) this exercise is expected to have impacted and benefited the lives of over 60,000 children in more than 320 cities across the country.

The Fevicol Champions Club (FCC), is an exclusive club for woodworkers and contractors undertaken by Pidilite, which is the market leader in consumer and specialty chemicals. Over 625 Fevicol Champion Clubs having over 42000 members participated in the Fevicol Champions Club – Shram Daan Diwas.

Mumbai and Thane saw around 3430 carpenters donating labour at 52 organisations. Pidilite extended its support to the woodworkers and contractors participating in Shram Daan Diwas, by providing all the participants across India with the tools and materials required for carrying out their repair work.

Mr. Vivek Subramanian, CEO, Fevicol Division, Pidilite Ind. said, “Shram Daan Diwas is a unique community initiative where we can witness daily wage earners such as woodworkers and contractors forego their livelihood for a noble cause. Due cognizance must be paid to this fact as these individuals themselves are not economically empowered, but are taking this valiant step to help society using their skills and intellect. We are more than happy to play our part in this initiative and are certain that will undoubtedly bring a smile to the myriad underprivileged children all across India.”

The school authorities said, “We are extremely happy with the quality of work that the carpenters have done. We are grateful to Fevicol Champions Club for their efforts and Pidilite for taking up such an initiative and bringing a smile on the faces of the kids in our school/institute. Our school needed a makeover, the carpenters not only repaired the broken furnitures but also provided the kids with a comfortable environment to study. ”

Mr. Mahesh Thakkar, a participating carpenter said, “Our motive was to provide assistance to the children to get basic education in a comfortable environment. Many of the institutes are not in situation to afford the repair cost. Though this we contribute in our small way”.

Mr. Vishwakarma , another carpenter said, “I feel blessed and proud to be part of this initiative. Through this I’m able to contribute my bit to the society and make lives of these kids little better.”

FCC also organized other host of social welfare activities including, Maha-Mela ­­­– a platform for woodworkers to come together and gain technical knowledge, Shiksha Samman – a scholarship programme for 10^th/12^th std students of woodworkers.

Fevicol Champion Club serves as a platform for the carpenters and their families to learn and enhance personal and professional skills to further expand their business. It also helps their spouses and children to develop a hobby apart from engaging into various social and cultural activities. In the past, various activities have been undertaken by the club such as training workshops; Self development programs; Medical camps: blood donation, pulse polio, eye check-up, health check-up etc.; Religious celebrations: Vishwakarma Puja, Vishwakarma Jayanti, Diwali, Chhat festival, Navratri etc.; Social events: cleanliness drive, feeding poor, tree plantation etc.; Children activities: baal mela, scholarships to name a few.

Shram Daan Divas has grown leaps and bounds by making a mark and entering into Limca Book of Records, Asian Book of Records among others. The FCC members have gone out of their way to undertake various initiatives for needy community including creating special type of sound proof plywood in classroom for students of Deaf and Dumb school, undertaking free repair work for institute with no monetary assistance, building cement and china benches at a 100 year old crematorium supporting through flood relief funds, among others.

Last year, 30000 woodworkers reached out to 600 institutes. Shram Daan Diwas was celebrated across the country in cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Pune, Nagpur, Nasik, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Rajkot, Surat, Gandhinagar, Gondal, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Meerut, Roorkee, Bareily, Sahranpur, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Chandigarh, Patna, Jaipur to name a few. Institutes repaired in these cities include blind schools, tribal schools, schools for disabled, municipal schools, orphanage, government schools and hospitals, old age homes amongst others that are operated by NGO’s and government.

Corporate Comm India(CCI Newswire)