What is Christmas all about? A decorated tree, hanging stars, cake, wine and carols? Or perhaps it is time spent with loved ones? Of course, it is all that and so much more; let's not forget the spirit of love and goodness. That's exactly what the NGO Let's Spread Love is doing. And their mission statement is...well, their name is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It is all about the love.
This Christmas, the volunteers of this Bengaluru-based NGO transformed themselves into Santa Clauses for 60 children of an orphanage, Home of Hope. Founded by an XIMB student, Harshil Mittal, three years ago, Let'sSpread Love (LSL) now has its branches in Pune, Gurugram, Chennai, Delhi and Bhubaneswar. The volunteers identify shelter homes here and conduct food distribution drives at regular and frequent intervals.
When they conducted one such drive in November, the volunteers asked the children at Home of Hope to make a wishlist for Santa Claus. "The wishlist was very simple and it ranged from video games to Barbie dolls — what else would kids wish for," says Mateen Jamadar, who heads the Bengaluru chapter of the NGO.
A week before Christmas, on December 17, the group of volunteers visited the orphanage and were greeted by happy faces who were all excited to receive their gifts. The excitement was unparalleled when they met a volunteer who had dressed up as Santa Claus. "The children were very happy. All of them got the gifts that they wanted. So yeah, it was a very merry Christmas," says Mateen, proudly. All of the gifts were hand-me-downs and most of them were donated by the NGO's volunteers.
