As posted on the Forecast Front website, February 28, 2011.
By Eileen Rademacher
CHENNAI: In February, “Sleeping Children Around the World” (SCAW) travelling team had the privilege of working with The Rotary Club of Ambattur in Chennai, India. SCAW is a Canadian charity, founded by Murray and Margaret Dryden, which gives bedkits to needy children in underdeveloped and developing countries. They believed that every child should have the benefits of a good night’s sleep. Only then would they be able to function well in school and in their daily lives. This was first accomplished in Poona, India in 1970 with the distribution of 50 bedkits.
Bedding, clothing, school uniform, school supplies, a school bag and a mosquito net make up the contents of the bedkit. The SCAW team distributes the bedkits and takes a photograph of each child to send back to the donor.
SCAW is operated by volunteers from the processing of the donation to the distribution of the bedkits. One hundred per cent of every bedkit donation reaches a needy child. Each bedkit is valued at $35 CAN.
Silver jubilee of Rotary Club-SCAW association
The Rotary Club of Ambattur and SCAW celebrated 25 yrs of working together in February 2011. In that period of time nearly 80,000 bedkits were given to impoverished children in and around Chennai. This year Chennai received money to finance 6000 bedkits for distribution by the Rotary Club.
The purchasing of the bedkit items and the venues of the distribution are looked after by the Rotary Club SCAW committee. They are responsible for selecting and identifying the children from economically challenged families, who range in age from 6 – 12 yrs old. Food and transportation for the children are also provided by the Rotarians on the distribution day.
Sleeping Children Around the World, the Rotary Club of Ambattur and most of all the donors continue to fulfill the mission of “giving a child a good night’s sleep” to the less fortunate children of Chennai.
Eileen Rademacher for the SCAW Team to Chennai 2011
