FOOTPRINTS SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

A Change for a Cause || FootPrints Social Responsibility

By Team FootPrints |

In today’s materialistic world, most of the population lives in complex rather than simple societies. As social complexity increases, inequality escalates as well, along with a widening gap between the poorest and the wealthiest members of society. With the advancement in technologies, ideologies and mindsets of people has not seen much of improvement. If we look at today’s current scenario the rich are becoming richer, and the poor is becoming poorer. The urge to make more money and in the race of success has resulted in loss of empathy and humanity.  From gender inequality, to differences between generation gap, from child labor to lack of education in underprivileged areas, from tree plantation to increase in environmental pollutions etc, there have had been drastic effects and major changes in the evolving society. People have become reluctant towards helping or improving the condition of society and are more engrossed in how to make a good luxurious lifestyle for themselves and their family. Likewise, youth is also diverted from their goals and is indulged into activities like drug abuse and excessive use of alcohol which results in depression, anxiety and deaths too. To overcome such challenges, we should try to invest our time in thinking and helping in bringing changes in our society for the betterment of our future generations. Mother Teresa has wisely said “Be the change you wish to see in the world”. If we want to bring change in the society, we have to start it by changing ourselves. Small acts when multiplied by millions of people can transform the world.

“There is no greater joy nor greater reward than to make a fundamental difference in someone else’s life.”

FootPrints Social Responsibility

 In this era of competition, true happiness and satisfaction can only be found by seeking and making people smile with happy eyes.  Just like a candle lights thousands of others without losing its own flame, team FootPrints believes in altruistic acts to make place a better place to live. Since last 22 years our team is engaged in working for social causes for the enhancement of the society. Our main aim and concern under this segment of FootPrints is to improve the lives of the underprivileged and satisfy the needs of the needy. “The gift of blood is a gift to someone’s life”. Blood donation is a vital part of world healthcare. But only about 3% of age eligible people donate blood yearly. In 2016, our team had arranged blood donation camps. We all know that plastic is one of the most daily used product in our life, but what happens after we throw it away? It’s thought more than five trillion pieces of plastic are in the world’s oceans and takes years to breakdown as it isn’t biodegradable. Each year, 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced and 40% of that is single- use-plastic we’ll use once before it’s binned. Hence, as engineers, keeping environment and sustainability at its core, Under the “Say no to Plastic” campaign, we made a world record in 2016, to make the world’s largest paper bag to try and create awareness among the people to use more paper bags and say no to plastic. “The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” FootPrints in 2017 conducted an eye camp in Shahpura to give the eyes a new lease of life. Any serious shift towards more sustainable societies must include gender inequality. FootPrints in an attempt to take this ideology a step ahead, presented “The Dynamics of HIS=Her” in 2018. “The best friend on earth of man is the tree” by keeping this quote in mind team FootPrints in 2019, had initiated tree plantations in their university and had put dustbins in the campus of TECHO, aiming to the green sphere. In the year 2020, with the wave of pandemic we had donated school uniforms in primary schools and basic stationary requirements to the children of Shahpura and Umarva village as a small help in their academic curriculum. Importance of sanitary napkins and health and hygiene of women has been a big taboo. Out of a total of approx. 40 crore menstruating women in India, less than 20% use sanitary pads. In urban areas, this number only goes upto 52%. This indicates that nearly half of even urban-based women use unhygienic methods for period protection, making them vulnerable to health issues.

World's Largest Paper Bag

Father's Day

Him=HER Campaign

 In the year of 2021, team FootPrints  with the help of Baroda Youth Club distributed free sanitary napkins to the nearby ladies of Shahpura and Umarva villages of Vadodara in order to educate them about the use and importance of sanitary napkins. To inculcate a sense of health and hygiene, our team, gave a brief talk on spreading awareness regarding how to maintain cleanliness  during diseases like Dengue and Malaria. “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows”. Children are the roots to the tree of our future, which will bear fruits when nurtured with knowledge and education and hence keeping their health at our utmost priority, this year, Vitamin-C tablets were distributed. Knowing the untapped potential amidst the underprivileged kids, we made a goal to enrich their lives with laughter and good memories and further also educated them on the Importance of Education and provided them with some stationary products.

FSR Drives at Umarva

FSR Drives

FSR Drives at Shahpura

 In collaboration with Leo Club of Vadodara team Footprints distributed notebooks and pencils in schools of 5 villages of Vadodara including Shahpura and Umarva. As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic has affected educational systems worldwide, leading to the near- total closures of schools, early childhood education and care services, universities and colleges. Team FootPrints provided help in the academics of impoverished students who faced trouble due to online education going on in COVID-19 situation.

This year our team is proud to announce that FootPrints has received patronages from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Indian National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO (INCCU) for the contribution and impact it brings, being a youth organization. 

The success of an organization depends on efficient work but when supported by the aristocrats, it increases exponentially thus, FootPrints has also received support from “Make in India” and “Skill India” and has been awarded with patronages from South Asia Youth Environment Network (SAYEN) and Centre for Environment Education (CEE) for initiating a step towards a healthy environment and a better society in previous years. As one has rightly said, “No one has ever become poor by giving” and we at FootPrints have always been rich enough to share and cherish our wins and happiness. Thus FootPrints have always come up with such innovative events for the betterment of society and promises to continue the same every year.