The first day of caring for Reuters Employees was organized for the 8 th of May at Dahisar. CCDT (Committed Communities Development Trust) is an NGO working with school dropouts and provides them with an alternative form of non- formal education. CCDT sent a group of children (boys and girls) to attend the art workshop to be conducted by Vaishali Rege from Creative Path.

The event was attended by 10 Reuters employees + 4 United Way Mumbai volunteers + 30 children from CCDT.

The day began at 10.30 with snacks organized by CCDT. Vaishali used the first half of the day to teach everyone present, the art of paper quilling. This was followed by a lunch break which was organized by the Mahila Mandal at Dahisar. The afternoon was used to teach Iris Folding. The event came to a close by 4.30. The children were handed little take away gifts by Reuters Employees and then the team departed.

How do you make a subject as detestable and arduous as Maths interesting? Mr. Tripathi and Jyoti from Navnirmiti showed how teaching children Maths can be made interactive and fun for both the children as well as the teacher.

A Maths workshop was organized for 20 teachers from CCDT and 7 employees from Reuters. The teachers are involved in Sarva Shikshan Abhiyan (informal education for school drop-outs) and teaching children from Primary School.

A colourful and creative session involving use of Jodo Blocks, MatheMat, Number Line and other tools developed by Navnirmiti showed how Maths need not be sessions of mugging up and both teaching and learning basic Maths can be entertaining. The Maths Kits were donated to CCDT who will use the same to teach Maths to children in their schools.

The teachers and Reuters volunteers had an interactive session where the teachers share their experiences and their views on how this workshop was a boon to them.

The third day of caring for Reuters Employees was organized on 11 th of May at Yusuf Meharali Centre, Tara village, near Panvel. Prerna is an NGO working with children of sex workers which provides them with day to day resources. Prerna sent a group of girls of age group 9-15 yrs. to attend the visit to the cottage industries.

The event was attended by 6 Reuters employees, 3 United Way Mumbai volunteers, 26 children and 2 volunteers from Prerna.

The day began at 10:30 with breakfast organized by Yusuf Meharali Centre. The first half of the day was used to visit all factories except bakery and nursery after which the children sang songs and interacted with Reuters employees. This was followed by a lunch break which was again organized by Yusuf Meharali Centre. Post lunch, the group visited the bakery and the nursery. The event came to a close by 4.30. The group dropped the children at Prerna after dropping Reuters employees at their respective destinations.

For the Reuters Employees as well as United Way it was a day completely out of the ordinary – not spent sitting at office but used to interact and care for the under privileged as well as teach them about the cottage industries. There was a fantastic level of enthusiasm in the children as well as the employees. It was indeed a day that brought smiles to the children… United Way ... and Reuters!