With Maitri, weekends get a new meaning

PUNE: Chetan Shrigod, a 20-year-old engineering student, spends his Sundays collecting raddi to raise funds, while Medha Shidore (19), a student of the Fergusson College, spends her holidays in Melghat attending to malnourished children.
These young Puneites have found a new purpose in life that of helping Maitri, a city-based NGO, which works for the betterment of tribes in the Melghat region.
Maitri, a volunteer-based NGO which started with just a handful of people in 1997 to help the dying Korku children in Melghat, completed 12 years this month. Apart from bringing down the infant mortality rate in the region, they are also working towards raising the agricultural production and spreading AIDS awareness.
"My association with Maitri started when I was seven. I began by donating my birthday gifts to the organisation," says Medha. The organisation's efforts and the positive results inspire youngsters. "Every Sunday, we collect raddi (old newspapers) from housing societies in areas like Kothrud and sell them off to raise funds. We had started with just Rs 20 and now we earn almost Rs 3,000 per week. It feels great to work for a good cause," says Chetan.
Speaking of their future plans, Jayshree Shidore, founder member says, "Though we have no new projects in the pipeline, we are planning to expand our volunteer base and inspire more and more people to join hands with us."
Maitri's volunteers meet at the Kamla Nehru park every Tuesday, where they are joined by students, professionals, retired people and homemakers.
Starting with the aim of stopping the deaths of malnourished tribal children in the Melghat region, Maitri, has broadened its area of work and pro-actively helps victims of natural disasters. They also launched Muktaa (Making you talk and know about AIDS), a helpline for AIDS awareness in 2005 which now gets around 1,500 calls in a day.