Samaritans

Samaritans is the social initiatives club of MDI Gurgaon. The vision of the club is to harness the management acumen of ManDevIans in making a difference in society. We aim at inculcating a culture of social responsibility among aspiring managers of today through various events within MDI as well as by working with NGOs and corporate on significant projects.

Events conducted throughout the year:

Blanket Donation Drive and Thanksgiving gathering (October 2022) & New Year Drive (January 2023)
We wanted to express our gratitude towards the wonderful support staff and so a special Thanks giving gathering was organized as a gesture to spread love and thank the support staff for helping and showing kindness throughout the year. During the gathering, Samaritans gifted blankets and special snacks to all the support staff. In the event, blankets were distributed to 250+ supporting staff.

Diwali Collection Drive (Nov-Dec 2022)
Cloth collection drive was organised where the unused clothes from the faculties, staff and students were collected at different locations in the college and were finally donated to the Goonj NGO for recycling and reusing.

AIDS Awareness Day (1st December 2022)
This day is celebrated in order to unite in the fight against HIV, to show support for people living with HIV, and to commemorate those who have died from an AIDS-related illness. Mandevians sported the red ribbons on themselves to showcase our support and unity for this cause and make people aware of this disease.

Kindness Month (21st December 2022 - 20th January 2023)
“Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love’’ With this in mind, we Samaritans have tried to do our little part and conducted many different events from showing gratitude to our helping staff to spending some quality time with elders from nearby old age home during kindness month.
•    Tree of Life Workshop – The Tree of Life represents our personal development, uniqueness, and individual beauty. Just as the branches of a tree strengthen and grow upwards to the sky, we too grow stronger, striving for greater knowledge, wisdom, and new experiences as we move through life. Keeping this thought in mind we Samaritans organized a Tree of life workshop for staff kids - making them understand life the creative way. The workshop was designed to help kids learn more about their values, goals, strengths, and weaknesses.
•    Token of Thanks – "Always have an attitude of gratitude." To spread this positivity, we organized a “Token of Thanks” event. The theme of the event was MDI Gurgaon wherein all the students were asked to share what they are grateful for which was then shared with the individuals to whom it is addressed. During the event we received many beautiful stories of gratefulness, thanking friends, juniors, and seniors for making their life wonderful.
•    Help with Voice – During this event, we Samaritans visited Blind Relief Trust of India and realized how the visually impaired are trying hard to overcome the hurdles they are facing and achieve success in their selected field. We saw how they do paper products, candles and stiching in order to give a final shape. Also, the computer operation done by them, motivated us to keep trying hard for achieving our goals. We also realized the power of unity, in the way all of them supported each other at all points in time.
•    A day with children – Samaritans hosted a sports day with kids from the NGO Samarpan Foundation, New Delhi, to urge them to pursue their dreams and believe in themselves. We played games like kho-kho and relay races with them. In addition, the children were given gift kits containing notebooks, stationery, and Snacks. 60 kids from nearby slums took part in the events which were conducted in 2 slots.
•    A day with elders – Our elders have lived through many events. And their experiences can impact  our society in many ways. Seeking their counsel and giving them the respect, they deserve is essential. And it is a great way of learning valuable lessons through first-hand experiences. Therefore, we organized a “day with elders” at an old age home. During the event, we had a chat with them where they shared their valuable experiences and recited some beautiful stories.
•    Honor Her – Good menstrual health and hygiene practices can prevent infections and help women to take care of their health. But cultural taboos, poverty and lack of basic services like toilets and sanitary products can all cause unmet menstrual health and hygiene needs. So, Samaritans donated around 240 sanitary napkins to teenage girls and women and also tried to help them clarify any kind of doubt regarding the same.

Samaritans Events during Imperium
•    Blood Donation Drive – It is said that blood is one of the most priceless gifts one can give to another. Keeping this in mind, Samaritans conducted a blood donation drive where more than 30 students from MDI donated blood to the Indian Red Cross Society. By participating, we Mandevians indulged in a life-saving act of solidarity with others.
•    Guftagu – "One good conversation can shift the direction of change forever." This event is basically a blindfolded conversation between randomly selected partners. The initiative is trying to ensure that people go beyond the physical judgement stage to discover others.
•    Samarpan – “Awareness is the greatest agent for change. To promote awareness about different social issues, Samaritans organised “Samarpan”, a Social awareness video creation competition. In this competition, participants were given a platform to showcase Creativity, Acting and Video making skills while making their voices heard.
•    Beyond Karma – “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn." Beyond Karma is a case study competition based on social issues organized by the Samaritans. In this competition, participants were given a platform to showcase strategy skills and be a part of solving a real life problem faced by an NGO.

Collection Drive (1st March to 20th March)
Samaritans received a request from the Materials Library of India (MLI) to collect used Holi clothes for recycling. We organised this event in addition to the collection drive in association with Goonj. Through this collection drive, the discarded clothes, mattresses, buckets and other unused products were donated for reuse and recycling.

Secretary: Sandeep Kumar Senapati