JOY

Fostering Childrens

admin — Sat, 14 Aug 2021 05:16:24 +0000

Children: God’s most wonderful creation

In 2020, the pandemic gripped the world and shook its foundation so Just Open Yourself Society strategized to provide COVID-19 Relief. After working relentlessly during the second wave of COVID-19, the founder of Dehradun-based NGO Just Open Yourself (JOY), Jai Sharma, commenced with the initiative of adopting 100 children who lost both their parents to the deadly virus. Speaking about the fostering drive, the Founder of JOY, Jai Sharma, said, “When the second wave of COVID-19 started, we encountered five such families in the initial two weeks where both the parents had died, and the child/children were left alone at home. A few of these children were of 4th or 5th standard age group, one was in 12th, and the rest were small in age. At that moment, it hit our mind that this unfortunate scenario was inevitable, and we came across more such cases as the pandemic rose.”

Adding further, he said, “To date, we have fostered 41 orphaned children under Just Open Yourself Society and are taking care of their food, medicine, and finances, among other important aspects. Out of these 41 children, only two are from Dehradun, and the rest belong to the hills. I, Jai Sharma from JOY, am there to support these children by any means possible, till the time they become self-sufficient!” The team of JOY is reaching out to various villages in the hills of Uttarakhand. The Gram Pradhans of these villages are in constant touch with JOY members, wherein the former will inform if any child/children are orphaned. JOY has been actively working in supporting the masses from the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. The NGO has been procuring and distributing 24×7 Oxygen Cylinders free of cost as medical supplies with no refilling and security charges. The team also distributed COVID medical kits, sanitization kits (included sanitary pads, sanitizers, masks, soaps) along with other medical equipment to those in need. JOY made every effort to provide help to distant areas in the state and supplied ration kits, including flour, rice, sugar, spices, lentils, pulses, and oil. “With my indomitable spirit and the efforts of my team, I wish to strive in the future with the same vision”

The fostered kids are under the care of an efficient team who are looking after their food & nutrition, clothing, healthcare, education and lodging. We regularly hold interactive sessions like art & craft, music, photography, quiz competitions to keep the kids motivated and in high spirits. Additionally, we go out on field trips and explore nature together to conduct team activities and bring the JOY family closer. On July 25, 2021, Just Open Yourself Team along with the children went to Chaani, Maldevta, Dehradun for a treasure hunt and to spend quality time in lap of nature. Currently we are working on a model to assist as many kids as possible and spread JOY.

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Environment

admin — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 12:10:00 +0000

Environment: Preserve & Cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we have ever known. Tread light, tread right!

Every living being on this planet depends on nature for sustenance, human wants are unlimited but resources are scarce, thus environmental protection has become more important than ever before. It is not limited to food, clothes or shelter anymore – it is much beyond that. We are depleting natural resources faster than nature can replenish them. We have caused a disruption that will require years of incessant efforts to remedy the devastation.

Today we are in the middle of an environmental crisis like never before resulting from numerous reckless human activities like deforestation, pollution, overconsumption and climate change. Deteriorating environmental conditions have resulted in many other problems such as scarcity of resources, poor sanitation and hygiene, as well as calamities such as floods and droughts.

Just Open Yourself Society is committed to organising holistic activities that strengthen the conservation and protection of natural resources, advance ecological sustainability, and foster harmony between communities and the environment. We empower communities to analyse their impact, ecological footprint and devise plans to mitigate the damage, embrace local solutions, and spur innovation in an effort to address the causes and reduce the effects of climate change and environmental degradation.

Milestones of Just Open Yourself Society

Lighting up Lives Campaign

A single night of darkness jolts us and makes us realise the importance of light, here we are not talking of a power cut for few hours but a lifetime of electricity inaccessibility. To change this and bring a revolution by lighting stars in that parallel universe that is beyond our imagination, SPECS and JOY came together and collaborated with Hero. In a unique, first of its kind campaign, an innovative idea was brought a life as LED Bulbs were manufactured at very low price and distributed for free, saturating several villages in the state. Bulbs were manufactured by different sections of society including students in Dehradun, villagers in different villages of Uttarakhand, inmates of Haridwar Jail along with the support of even the differently-abled people.

The effort not only brought light in the life of these villagers but also helped in saving 93% energy, minimizing E-Waste and curbing migration from the hills by generating employment opportunities at the doorsteps of villagers.

The teams at SPECS and Hero were spellbound with the dedication and passion with which the youngsters in team JOY worked during the campaign. As Jai Sharma, founder of JOY says, “Members and volunteer at JOY have always been determined to do something good for the society. We have made more than 70 thousand bulbs for villages in Haridwar, Dehradun, Assi Ganga Valley and Kedarnath. There were several tough moments but the strength of youngsters at every step of the project helped us to get through it. From the production phase of the bulb at my house to the distribution phase in the difficult terrain, youngsters like me helped us a lot and astonished us with their dedication towards the cause.”

More than 70 thousand LED bulbs have been distributed so far under the campaign, JOY, SPECS and Hero MotoCorps Ltd. have proudly saturated 12727 Families of 28 Gram Sabhas of Dehradun, Uttarkashi and Hardwar District. It was under the campaign only that normal 100 watt bulb were replaced by 7 watt LED bulbs, saving 28406 units of electricity per day and 10368432 units of electricity in a year. SPECS also imparted training of Making and Repairing LED Bulbs to 152 people in this campaign. For the first time across the globe, Repairing centres have been created under the campaign at multiple places in the state to minimize E-waste and save the money of villagers.

Waste Generation and Disposal Management

What does one do when confronted with a dumping area festering in ankle-deep filth from paper, plastic, and decomposing waste among others? Make a face, hold your nose, and walk on? Not if you’re Jai Sharma!
Jai Sharma, Just Open Yourself Society along with the youth of Uttarakhand initiated a project for state wide garbage dumping data collection, segregation and management.

The biggest pay-off for the campaign came when the areas could be monitored on Google Maps and work could be carried out efficiently in keeping the city clean.

Plantation Drives ~ The inspiration catches on..

Just Open Yourself collaborated with several organizations to plant trees in different parts of the city to increase the green area and improve the environment of the city. Planting Trees is the most effective and economical method to improve physical environment. Trees play tremendous role in conditioning our environment, they cut off sun’s heat from the ground, reduce dust pollution, noise pollution, wind velocity, and more important produce oxygen and consume carbon dioxide free of cost. As well as contributing to all of the health benefits associated with living in a greener neighborhood.

Plant-a-Thon 2016
On July 10, 2016, Plant-a-Thon was organized and JOY along with five other organizations planted 700 saplings to beautify Doon.

Plant-a-Thon 2017
Marking the 2nd anniversary, Plant-a-thon was hosted on July 9, 2017 in collaboration with eleven organizations. JOY planted over 3000 saplings. An open invitation was published to invite all the residents of Doon Valley. An attempt to work in uniformity turned into a transforming step. Just Open Yourself (JOY) in collaboration with many groups of the city including SPECS, Wanderers, Grassroot Awareness and Technical Institute for Society, Rotary club and the Forest Department of Dehradun.

Amid traditional Gharwali dhol, damau beats being played in the background and beautiful trees all around, several Doonites came together for a tree plantation event. Over 3,000 saplings were planted by around 300 youngsters at Plant-A-Thon-2017 held at Rajawala. Different varieties of trees including bamboo, jamun, sheesham, babool and amla, among others were planted on almost two hectares of land to strengthen the forest ecosystem in the area.

Plant-a-Thon 2018

On July 8, 2018, Just Open Yourself Society along with the forest department carried out a plantation drive. As part of the initiative, they planted around 3,500 saplings at Rajwal forest and Vigyan Dham. Around 640 workers from NGOs such as Just Open Yourself (JOY) and SPECS as well as bullet riders group of Dehradun called Wanderers took part in the drive and planted variety of trees such as Babool, Jamun, Bahila, Sheesham and Guava.

Plant-a-Thon 2019
In 2019, Just Open Yourself mobilized the youth to plant record breaking saplings. Over 2.1 lakh trees were planted by 35,000 families in a day in Dehradun district, a feat that enabled them to enter the record books. The exercise was conducted on July 21 in 36 gram panchayats and 15 wards of the district covering areas such as Thano, Ranipokhri, Doiwala and other locations near forests in collaboration with 39 organizations.

Officials of Hero MotoCorp, the organization which had sponsored the drive under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, stated that the record has been verified by ‘Asia Book of Records’ and ‘India Book of Records’ and has been officially registered as a new record under the category ‘Maximum families participating in a tree plantation drive’. The volunteers at Just Open Yourself Society and Mr. Jai Sharma were felicitated by Uttarakhand government for their efforts.

Plant-a-Thon 2020
With the pandemic looming large over our heads, we devised plans to carry on with the fifth edition of Plant-a- Thon by using the outreach of social media and delivering the saplings at the footsteps of various institutions and homes of Dehradun’s residents so that each one plants one tree. On July 12, 2020, Plant-a-Thon was organized and JOY along with seven other organizations planted 4500 saplings.

Plant-a-Thon 2021
The turbulence caused by COVID-19 had disrupted the life in Doon Valley, Just Open Yourself Society shifted its focus primarily on saving human life, losing our beloveds was a setback and to honour the memories of the departed souls we conducted a closed plantation drive with our team members and foster kids.

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Women Sustainable Communities

admin — Thu, 07 Jan 2021 07:07:21 +0000

The epitome of resilience: Women

Indeed it is true that the hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world. One of the most pertinent factors in determining the progress of a nation is the quality of education, healthcare, nutrition, hygiene, awareness and assistance provided to women and girl children.

Just Open Yourself Society since its inception in 2016, has been working towards empowering the females of Uttarakhand and working with them in various capacities to provide them inclusive healthcare, hygiene and education through various activities and projects undertaken all throughout the year.

A Walk down the timeline/ memory lane

⦁ On May 8, 2016 Just Open Yourself Society organized a Health Camp at Sahastradhara to educate the kids about the necessity of practicing cleanliness and conducted their health checkup to eliminate chances of any lingering ailments.

⦁ The morning of May 22nd 2016, was a radiant one for kids at the shelter home as the volunteers spent quality time with kids.

⦁ On 11th June 2017, Just Open Yourself Society organized a health camp and it saw a tremendous turnout and received positive feedback.

⦁ A stationary distribution drive was conducted on April 22, 2017, providing supplies to children.

⦁ On May 6, 2017, arrangements were made to provide clean drinking water to school kids. Just Open Yourself Society took up the campaign “Saaf Desh Saaf Pradesh” to analyse and report women centric Eve teasing issues in the city of Dehradun.

⦁ On 11 June, 2017 a Health Camp was organized to promote a resilient and disease free world.

⦁ Our Flagship Event of Menstrual Awareness on July 22, 2017 made us realize the difficulties faced by girl children due to lack of awareness and access to proper menstrual hygiene and understanding of the hormonal changes.

⦁ A team of 5 female Just Open Yourself Society volunteers visited Phool Chand Nari Shilp Mandir Girls Inter College to organize an introductory session to break the ice and converse with students through interactive comic books on menstrual hygiene. On realizing the gravity of the situation, the traumas faced by girls, we took expert help and guided the children through individual sessions. The girls were made aware of the causes of periods to remove the stigma surrounding periods and not to be ashamed of periods. The girls were then taught how to make reusable Sanitary Pads at home using minimal things. The children assisted by the team made 50 sanitary napkins. Lastly various aspects of menstruation hygiene management and various attitudes towards the same were discussed openly to uproot the stigma.

⦁ On September 18, 2017, another empowering Menstrual Awareness Workshop was organized at Rajkiye Inter College accompanied by a drawing competition the following month on October 3, 2017 to keep the enthusiasm soaring among children.

⦁ The Milestone Event of Just Open Yourself Society, Women Health and Sanitation was organized on February 13, 2018 at Dehradun and Haridwar in association with Hero MotoCorp Pvt Ltd.

⦁ The event on April 21, 2018 at Ranjita Prathmila Vidhyala, Badola paved the way for a revolution in bringing representation to issues of healthcare and hygiene of Women and assisting them by providing Sanitary Napkin Making Kit with basic & crucial amenities.

⦁ On April 28, 2018, Just Open Yourself Society team made beautiful wall murals to encourage people to respect and save girl child. The chilly winter December 1, 2018 saw Just Open Yourself Society volunteers conducting Menstrual Hygiene Workshop at Sunny’s Amarat.

⦁ The Sanitary napkin distribution and awareness workshop on May 1, 2019 was well received at Sunny’s Amarat.

⦁ In the month of October 2019, Just Open Yourself Society rigorously worked to cater to Sanitary Napkin availability.

⦁ In the subsequent months on June 2, 2020 Just Open Yourself Society made a record of distributing 15,000 sanitary napkins to women of Uttarakhand. Recently on June 24, 2021 Just Open Yourself catered to the menstrual hygiene campaign by distributing over 9000 sanitary napkins.

⦁ The pandemic could not deter Just Open Yourself Society’s initiative and we delivered an astounding two million sanitary napkins which was a recording breaking accomplishment owing to the incessant efforts of the team.

Menstruation awareness is important to bring change in the orthodox thoughts of society. We want to break the stringent dogmas and educate the unaware folks who consider it a taboo, thereby making adolescence a daunting time for girls. We at Just Open Yourself, believe creating a sustainable and invigorating world for girls so that they fulfil their dreams and aspire to accomplish their professional and personal goals.

Team Just Open Yourself has been felicitated by Shri Mahant Indresh Hospital in the field of Health and Sanitation owing to its ongoing efforts in proving to be heroes for Women Empowerment

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