Don’t discard waste paper or sell your old newspapers to the raddiwalla, it could save someone’s life.
Don’t discard waste paper or sell your old newspapers to the raddiwalla, it could save someone’s life.
Since July, Mumbaikars have been donating old newspapers and used paper to Goregaon-based Venus Cultural Association, which sells them to generate funds to treat the poor. “In the last 15 days, we have collected 2,000 kg of waste paper. We sold it to the scrap dealer at Rs10 per kg and got Rs20,000,” said Jaiprakash Thakur, a trustee.
The association, which runs a medical and diagnosis centre at Himmat Nagar in Goregaon (East), provides subsidised treatment to the poor. And, if a patient cannot afford the fees, the organisation even treats them for free.
“We have been providing subsidised medical treatment for the last 28 years. Almost 90% of the patients are so poor that they cannot afford even the nominal fees,” said Thakur.
The organisation, which has nine dialysis machines, does dialysis of 27 patients every day for just Rs100 per patient. The actual cost of each dialysis is Rs650.
“Every year we conduct 70,000 to 80,000 dialyses. Though we get donations, we were facing a financial crunch as the number of patients has been increasing over the years,” said Thakur.
The organisation then hit upon the idea to request people and corporate houses to donate used paper. “When I heard about the initiative, I approached them and donated old newspapers,” said Ashok Goyal, a Malad resident.
Thakur confessed that the idea was inspired by the Swaminarayan Mandir trust in the US, which had collected empty beer cans and sold them to raise money to construct a temple there.
“We started the project in July from BJP leader Ram Naik’s office, who gave us 175kg of paper waste. Now, we collect waste from Churchgate to Virar. We have also received enquiries from Bhiwandi and Rajasthan,” he said.
“Thakur has been running the trust and serving the poor for many years. When he told me about the idea I immediately offered him paper waste from my office,” said Naik.
Those interested in donating old newspapers and waste paper to Venus Cultural Association can call them on 9619803783. Volunteers of the organisation will arrive at your doorstep to collect the donation.
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