Foundation OF LIFE
                                                                                            :Upaasana Bora
“Commencement of the Destitute Rehabilitation Centre at Katraj was ‘a dream come true’ for us. We started off with 20 children in the year 2002 and today, we have 150 children who are living at that centre. Since its inception in 2002, over 400 children have been benefited.” said Dr. Vinod Shah, the Chairman of Janaseva Foundation.
 Dr. Vinod Shah is a highly accomplished physician, and a renowned gastroenterologist associated with many prominent hospitals in Pune city. His professional success did not blind him to the misery and agony of India’s poor, sick and powerless. The overpowering inner urge to give back to the society in as many ways as possible led to the establishment of Janaseva Foundation on the 15th of January, 1988.
“Initially I used to work at Sassoon General Hospital in B.J. Medical College. Many a times, destitute men and women were brought there for their treatment from the roadsides and we used to learn medicine on them after which they were just left to go back to the streets again. My aim from the very beginning has been to make Pune ‘a beggar free city’, where people of all age groups live a comfortable life”, said Dr. Vinod Shah, who has had a beautiful journey from making a healthy body to making a healthy society.
Janaseva Foundation began modestly by setting up Old Age Homes for the elderly people who were picked up from the streets. Dr. Vinod Shah could not help but notice the sufferings of youngsters and the children on the streets. That’s when he, along with his wife, Mrs. Meena Shah came up with the vision of providing hostel facilities for the street children. She was the driving force behind all this.
Janaseva Foundation started the ‘Care and Education Program of Street and Slum Children’ on 21st October,2012. The social workers of our Foundation conducted surveys and counseled the children and their parents on repeated occasions and were able to persuade them to take up school education. It was a difficult task as many children were helping their parents to earn livelihood. The other challenge was to procure the necessary documents for school admission as these children had none including birth certificates. Over the past few years, 2000 children have been enrolled and this year itself, 800 such children from Potraj vasti (Sinhagad Road), Seven Loves Chowk (Swargate), Wonder city (Katraj), Pudhari colony (Katraj), Kalyaninagar, Wagholi and Karvenagar were enrolled in various schools e.g Sane Guruji Primary School, Sinhagad Road, Pune, Adarsh Primary School, Swargate, Pune.
Janaseva Foundation has rapidly expanded its activities. It serves the society through diverse fields like health care, elderly care, disabled care, destitute care, education, vocational training and research, construction of toilets, village care, etc..
The facilities provided to the street and slum children include:
1. Education:
Out of the 2000 children enrolled in different government schools, over 150 children are put up at the Katraj Centre.
10 teachers and 10 MSWs have been employed there.
Books, school bags and stationery are provided, and wherever possible, commuting facilities like buses are made available.
There are tutors kept for most of them to ensure that they understand and excel in all the subjects at school.



2. Health & Nutrition:
 All students get evening snacks and the students living at the Katraj Centre are provided a nutritious diet.
Essential toiletries like soaps, brushes, etc. are provided.

3. Sports:
 2 hours of outdoor sports is compulsory for all. 4 sports teacher is specially employed for this purpose.
4. Personality Development:
In order to ensure that all these youngsters are mentally fit and active, various sessions are organised for them.
5. Summer Camps: to keep the children busy and to make sure they utilise their time in the best possible manner, summer camps with on various interesting topics are also organised.
6. Vocational Training :
a. Rehabilitation of Physically Challenged Youth: In collaboration with Dr. Reddy’s Foundation, vocational courses are started for physically disabled, deaf and dumb youth who were in the 10th standard. This is a 60 days training course which includes free food, accommodation, training and placement assistance. Out of 500 youngsters, 280 got suitable placements.
b. Driving, and Tailoring classes: In collaboration with Weikfeld Foundation, 500 youngsters from poor families were given driving training, 300 were given computer training and over 500 were given stitching and tailoring training.
c. Certified Course in Geriatric Care: In collaboration with Tata Institute of Social Sciences, a 15-week course was organised for a batch of 15 students who were then suitably placed.
 Janaseva Foundation aims at being a care provider to the poorest of the poor, elderly, disabled, disaster stricken and destitute. At the same time, it looks to the development of the human mind and intellect through its wing devoted to education and training.
“Economic growth without investment in human development is unsustainable and unethical”
- Amartya Sen

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