Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has appreciated the Navi Mumbai Police for distributing food to the residents of the Bal Ashram in Vashi on the occasion of Deepavali.
Mr. Deshmukh tweeted, “The Vashi police personnel from @Navimumpolice showed a nice gesture by carrying an initiative along with Smile Foundation, a social organization to distribute food among the children of the Bal Ashram in Vashi on the occasion of the Diwali festival.”
Deputy Commissioner of Police Suresh Mengade, Assistant Commissioner of Police Vinayak Vast and senior police inspector Sanjeev Dhumal from Vashi had led the initiative.
Mr. Mengade said, “The police department has been involved in social causes amid the pandemic and even before it. While the whole country is celebrating the festival, such kids also need our support to celebrate and each one of us should come forward to help them. The Minister’s tweet is a motivation for us to keep up our good work.”
The Bal Ashram at Sector 28 is run by Desire Society for children living with HIV and has been registered in Hyderabad.
“Of the children in the ashram, 19 are living with HIV, while six others were found abandoned. The smiles on their faces brightened our day too,” Mr. Mengade said. There are children who study from LKG to Class XII. Whatever help that can be extended from our department will be done, Mr. Dhumal said.
Mr. Vast said, “I hope our gesture motivates others too to work for the unprivileged.”
This was the fourth time the Smile Foundation extended the help to the children during the pandemic. “With the prime motive of bringing smiles to children’s faces, we donated supplies like rice and dal, drinking chocolate powder, biscuits, chocolates and stationery items,” Dheeraj Ahuja, founder member of the foundation, said.
“We have extended our help every year, but this year due to the pandemic, we visited them often,” Uma Ahuja, founder president of the foundation, said.
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