Duration: 26th September – 3rd October, 2016 (8 Days)
For the first social event for the year 2016-2017, the Computer Association partnered with an NGO known as SEAL (Social and Evangelical Association for Love). SEAL provides shelter, food, clothing, health-care and education at the SEAL Ashram located at Panvel.
The Computer Association organized a drive in order to collect usable clothes, bags and footwear from the students and faculty of PCACS, for the residents of SEAL Ashram. Titled as ‘The Smile Project’, the Computer Association set out to accomplish this new challenge. The one factor that set this event apart for the Computer Association was that, this event was executed entirely by its First Year members, while the Second Year members provided organizational guidance to their juniors.
Once all the details of the event was communicated to SEAL, the event took place in the following way:
24th September, 2016
Briefing
The Second Year Computer Association members called a meeting where the First Year members were briefed about their upcoming task, its goals and guidelines for execution of the event.
The First Year members were then divided into two teams: Team 1 and Team 2.
26th – 27th September, 2016
Day 1 – 2: Publicity
The group leaders of the two teams decided which group would publicize ‘The Smile Project’ in which classrooms. Once the classrooms were divided amongst the two teams, the teams split into smaller groups of two or three and began the first phase, i.e., spreading awareness and details about ‘The Smile Project’ in each classroom in PCACS. The Second Year members of the Computer Association announced the event details in all the staff rooms in PCACS.
28th – 30th September, 2016
Day 3 – 5: Collection
The First Year members organized themselves into groups and scoured each floor for donations. The groups visited each classroom on each floor in order to collect the donations as well as remind them about the event. The groups also collected donations from the staff rooms.
1st – 3rd October, 2016
Day 6 – 8: Final Packing and Pickup
Once the collection was completed, the entire donation was packed into bags. Once packed, the Computer Association coordinated a pickup date with SEAL.
The pickup vehicle from SEAL arrived on 3rd October, 2016 in the college premises. Once the collection was handed over to SEAL, ‘The Smile Project’ came to an end.
Conclusion
The first social event held by the Computer Association was a massive success. The Computer Association collected over 50 big bags full of clothes, schoolbags and footwear for the residents of SEAL Ashram. The two teams that were assigned with the task of executing ‘The Smile Project’ saw that the event was conducted and executed beautifully.