On Christmas Eve, Santa Clauses from across the country flooded the streets with gifts for underprivileged children. This holiday season is the time to share happiness, and the team behind the 100 Santas Project wanted to do just that by bringing joy to street children, many of whom got to meet Santa Claus for the first time. Children playing games, singing Christmas carols, and enjoying their gifts made it clear how thoughtfully crafted this Christmas eve was for the little ones.
The 100 Santas Project was a movement introduced by the Sounds of Silence Foundation, India’s first technology-based NGO founded by Sumit Singh Gandhi, that enables deaf individuals to overcome communication barriers and provides them with innovative ways to connect with the world.
Intending to give back to society, they started with the simple goal of bringing joy and happiness to street kids for whom this could be their first experience with Santa, an initiative taken up by Sounds of Silence to make Christmas exceptional for society’s underprivileged children.
Decked up as Santa Claus and cheering for the little kids throughout the schools and streets, popping in to surprise the children throughout the country, the volunteers of Sounds of Silence were the happiest on Christmas Eve.
Amplifying care and love this festive season
‘The idea this year that our volunteers pitched to extend this event to every location we could reach truly made me feel the spirit of Sounds of Silence has been preserved tenfold by them’, says Mr Sumit Singh Gandhi, Founder of Sounds of Silence.
The initiative’s best feature was anyone who wanted to participate and play the Santa Claus role for a day could. The diverse participants were college students, recent graduates, working professionals, and grandparents. Over 100 volunteers across the country distributed treats, presents and gifts to over 10,000 orphans, impaired and street children in and around the city while having fun dressing up as Santa!
Aashi, the project coordinator for The 100 Santa Project, was all smiles as she recounted their first stop, YMCA, an orphanage for specially-abled boys. ‘The cheers and smiles that the little boys had on their faces as soon as we entered were the best starts to our day! Truly made us feel proud of our initiative seeing their happiness.’
A collective effort
From their first year, beginning with 256 donations 7 days before the event and increasing to 10,000 donations because of every single volunteer and member’s belief in what was being done towards benefitting the kids mentally and emotionally, being joined by others who shared these beliefs and trusted with their support in any way that was viable is what drove this initiative to be so successfully executed.
This project grew over the last 6 years to expand this year all over India to cities such as Mumbai, Pune, Delhi, Noida, Bareilly, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Patna, Bhopal, Jodhpur, Gwalior, Anantapur, Varanasi, Indore, Saharanpur and Ranchi.
Unparalleled emotions
One of the Team Leads, 𝐽𝑎𝑛ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑖 spoke fondly about their time at the Desire Society orphanage for blind girls. ‘It was a beautiful experience seeing their emotions and happiness as we sang Christmas carols for them. They happily sang and interacted with us with such innocence and wonder that it made our hearts full!’
People from all walks of life were a part of this event, and the joy felt when wide-eyed children looked in surprise was unparalleled. Children across the streets and throughout the slums loudly cheering and running after the gift-filled trucks were a delight to behold! It was a truly amazing experience to see the kids dance with us, sing the Christmas carols and spread happiness, exclaimed A
‘We all desire to be kind, generous, and a part of someone else’s joy. All we require is a beginning and a belief. This year we certainly experienced immense happiness helping bring a smile to these children, simply needing goodwill and dedication to a worthwhile cause.’ – The Sounds of Silence Foundation.
Sounds of Silence urges you to give a thoughtful present during this season of giving to let children know how much they deserve love, especially during these trying times. We believe every child is entitled to a happy childhood filled with joy, love, and happiness.
When the kids received their first dolls, automatic toys, school backpacks, and painting and craft supplies, they were overjoyed and eager to play with them, their infectious energy and happiness fueling our cause.
Another Team member Ansh said, ‘‘The children’s happy faces have strengthened our belief in our project. Their simple words, ‘Thank you and Merry Christmas to my Santa’, echo in our hearts. We’ve been blessed.”
Coming together for a cause
We were able to deliver joy and pleasure to the innocent children who wait each Christmas for Santa Claus to accomplish a miracle with your help.
Sounds of Silence would like to thank everyone who generously contributed and supported this project. Through your donation, SOS has accomplished their goal of genuinely putting a smile on kids’ faces. You truly made a difference, and SOS is extremely grateful! They come together every Christmas Eve for this noble cause and make these two days special for the street kids; you also can be a Santa from: www.soundsofsilence.in
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