Coimbatore gets on ‘giving’ mode this festive season

COIMBATORE: For the members of Coimbatore City Ladies Circle 16, Diwali celebrations started 10 days before the festival with the inauguration of ‘Jumble Sale’ in the city on Sunday.
The members have been organizing a ‘Jumble Sale’ before Diwali for the past 30 years. Nivedhini, one of the organisers of the sale, said the members set up three collection centres and have been collecting various used and new household items, including electronics, clothes, games, books, show pieces, bags and other items from city residents for the past one month.“We have been organising this sale for the past 30 years and several regulars come to buy items. The cost of the items range from Rs 5 to Rs 3,000,” said Nivedhini. The revenue from the sale would be donated to the underprivileged children.
A Priyamvatha, a class 6 student, said she was extremely happy as she found a pair of skates at the sale for just Rs 100. Priyamvatha’s father Sivakumar said he had been coming to the sale for the past three years and last time he had purchased for Rs 10,000. “Almost everything we need for a year, we buy from here ranging from clothes and other electronic items,” he said.
As part of its Diwali celebrations, Hotel Vijay Park Inn has been providing free food for nearly 150 people at Sengupta Street in Ram Nagar every day.
The Shanthi Ashram celebrated Diwali by distributing nutritious food, sweets and new clothes to 40 poor families. A health monitoring camp was also held for the children.
Arun of Youth Helping Hands, a NGO, said they will celebrate their Diwali with children of an orphanage located in Ondipudur. They will also distribute clothes and a kit of essentials such as soap, brush, toothpaste, undergarments and other stationery items to more than 500 children.
Kovai Kulangal Paathugaapu Amaippu dedicated their weekend to the lakes as they cleaned up the Kumarasamy lake.