Gurugram NGO wins prestigious Mahatma Awards for Social Impact

New Delhi, October 6, 2021: Lotus Petal  Foundation, a Gurugram based NGO, has been conferred with the prestigious Mahatma Award 2021 for Social Impact. The non-profit organisation has been recognised for their high impact interventions in education, healthcare and nutrition for underprivileged children and their community living in urban and semi-urban areas of the city.
 
The award was presented in a ceremony held at India International Centre in New Delhi on October 1, 2021, by chief guest Dr Kiran Bedi, IPS, 24th Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry, along with Award founder Mr Amit Sachdeva and other distinguished guests. The award was received by Lotus Petal  Foundation Co-Founders, Kushal Chakravorty, and Saloni Bhardwaj.

Speaking on the occasion, Kushal said, “We are really grateful for the recognition given to our efforts. With a vision to nurture individuals and bring about a transformation in their lives through education, Lotus Petal has been driving change even when the world came to a standstill during the pandemic last year. We exist to provide people opportunities for transformation and we do that by running programs that deliver quality education, nutrition, and livelihood opportunities to the less privileged with the generosity of the privileged people. Today, thanks to these people, many of them have got back their livelihoods and are returning to rebuilding their lives. This has been a year of resilience, hope, compassion, courage & togetherness”.
From the 891 nominations this year, 58 changemakers were selected for the awards under various categories.

During the Pandemic hit lockdown last year, Lotus Petal Foundation opened its in-house kitchen which was repurposed to produce packaged meals for the impoverished. The relief effort was later transformed into community feeding under the Zero Hunger Food Bank platform.  Additionally, to keep the learning of the students of Lotus Petal on track, the pre-existing digital platform initially used only as the Learning Management System was repurposed by integrating Zoom and academic monitoring features. A dedicated YouTube Channel was established where teachers could make topic-wise videos. ‘Blue Khoj’ job portal was launched to help the parents of its schoolchildren find suitable jobs to ensure continuity in their education.
 
This impact exceeded their ambition by not only adding value to their beneficiaries’ lives but also gave them the opportunity to grow immensely as an organisation. The organisation is currently running a campaign #1MillionBricks to raise funds for a senior secondary school under construction that will also house a vocational training centre with a simulator for young children to get real-time training on vocational skills.
  
Under the core themes of their work i.e. Education, Livelihood & Nutrition, Lotus Petal Foundation operates and runs The Pratishthan Learning Centre – a 5-year fast track education & skilling programme for adolescents, The Vidyananda School – a nursery to grade 10+2 school, Jeevika – an in house skill-based vocational programme to prepare adolescents for formal jobs, The Sahyog Project  - revamping the pre-existing infrastructure & learning facilities of government schools, Aarogya Wellness – a healthcare programme for children.

The organisation also engages in long term consulting engagements with corporates, where they encourage employees to work at Lotus Petal for a period or work on specific projects that can continue for a few months.