Now, it’s an Eye Bucket challenge

In an effort to involve youngsters in the eye donation movement, the Rotary Club of Tiruchirappalli Shakthi has launched a community involvement project.

Christened E4 -- Engage, Encourage, Eye Donation and Eye Bucket challenge – the project seeks to promote awareness of eye donation and literacy.

Members of the club will visit various educational institutions and villages to spread awareness among students and residents about the importance of eye donation. They will enrol volunteers and eye donors for spearheading the cause. The volunteers in turn would convince as many people as possible for donating eyes for providing vision to blind persons. They will not only seek to collect eye donation pledges from interested people but also work for collecting eyes from the committed people at the time of death. The volunteers will also spend time at the blind schools to read lessons.

The Minister for Khadi and Village Industries, T.P. Poonatchi inaugurated the scheme on the occasion of World Literacy Day function held at Government Girls Higher Secondary School for Blind here on Monday. Highlighting the schemes being implemented by the State government for physically and mentally challenged people, he said that the authorities had been conducting special camps to identify the affected persons. They should come forward to register themselves to avail the welfare schemes for differently abled persons.

R. Manoharan, Chief Whip, Allirani Balaji, president, Rotary Club of Tiruchirappalli Shakthi, G. Vijaya Kumari, Head Mistress, Government Girls Higher Secondary School for Blind and others spoke.

Earlier, more than 200 volunteers of 5 colleges such as Srimad Andavan Arts & Science College, Jamal Mohamed College, Shivani College of Engineering, Nehru Memorial College and Bishop Heber College handed over eye donation pledge documents.