This social entrepreneur is bringing smile back on the faces of underprivileged through her NGO
Geetanjali Chopra left her well-cushioned job to start Wishes and Blessings, an NGO for the underprivileged. Over the years, it has been able to reach out to more than 10 lakh people.
When young Geetanjali Chopra visited orphanages along with her grandfather, little did she know that she would find her calling to serve them in the future.
Hailing from a traditional Punjabi joint family, Geetanjali says that the value of sharing and charity became a part of their DNA.
During the late 80s, Geetanjali would often visit a school for the visually impaired with her grandfather to celebrate birthdays and other special occasions with them. On one such occasion, a 7-8 year-old-girl tugged her arm and asked, “Mera birthday kab hota hai”? (When is my birthday?).
Geetanjali was very disappointed to know how one does not remember their birthday and never even cut a cake. These soft, subtle, yet intriguing words stayed with her.
Over the years, Geetanjali decided to find her true calling and established , an NGO, in 2014. It is a platform that connects donors with beneficiaries, spreading happiness and making dreams come true.
According to Geetanjali, the philosophy behind the enterprise is simple -- many of us have unfulfilled wishes while some of us are more blessed and can help others fulfil their wishes, and in return, we receive blessings. Hence the name, ‘Wishes and Blessings’.
Geetanjali is an academician, journalist, researcher, columnist, and philanthropist with more than ten years of experience in research and administration. She says, highly paid and well-cushioned jobs did not bring her much content, and it was only with the establishment of her NGO that she experienced complete satisfaction.
The turning point
In 2014, a year after Geetanjali lost her grandfather, she visited the same school. After spending some time there, she realised that the children wanted to celebrate Holi. It was surprising to her as the children, who could not see colours, wanted to celebrate the festival of colours.
After sharing the thought with her friends and colleagues, they contributed money for the cause.
Geetanjali with the kids
Geetanjali bought the colours and went to the school with friends to get their wish fulfilled.
“I saw these kids who are 90 percent or fully visually impaired playing holi as if there is no tomorrow. It was an unadulterated happiness. These visually impaired children gave me the vision of my life because that is when I realised this is what I want to do,” says Geetanjali.
Working for a larger cause
The NGO started by working with visually impaired children and soon it expanded to include orphanages, old age homes, and shelters for the homeless.
Geetanjali says that in the initial two years, Wishes and Blessings worked as a supporting NGO that helped organisations who found it difficult to sustain themselves. The NGO then started associating with orphanages, old age homes, etc.
At present, the NGO works across age, gender, economic and social barriers and addresses more than nine pressing issues, which include education, food, infrastructure, relief, skill development, and health.
Over the last eight years, Wishes and Blessings has been able to reach out to more than 10 lakh people and hopes to reach out to many more in the near future.
But the journey to set up and successfully run the organisation has not been easy for Geetanjali.
“In the last seven years, I came across a myriad of challenges. But the main challenge was to win people’s trust and change society’s perception towards NGOs in general. There was a huge trust deficit among people when we used to reach out to beneficiaries initially,” says Geetanjali.
It was Geetanjali’s determination to bring happiness in others’ lives and a firm belief that everyone can make a difference if given a chance, which helped her overcome every challenge successfully.
Flagship programmes
Today, the NGO has more than 16 projects dedicated to aiding the underprivileged, fulfilling the ultimate goal of spreading happiness. It currently has more than 20 centres across Delhi-NCR, a presence in seven states across India, and works for different causes.
Through these centres, the NGO has converted rain shelters or ‘rain baseras’ as they are popularly known, into learning centres, where children of various age groups are taught to read and write.
Wishes and Blessings also provides the opportunity to make a valuable difference in the lives of underprivileged children who have been denied the most basic right -- the Right to Education.
Under this programme, donors are invited to become relatives of the differently abled, underprivileged, HIV+ and orphaned children, and sponsor the education of these children to build stable and secure futures for themselves. Currently, over 500 children are being supported.
Apart from the donors, the NGO is supported by HNIs and corporates.
Additionally, its ‘three meals a day’ programme benefits about 500 people, including children, on a daily basis. Under this programme, underprivileged and homeless children, women, men, and the elderly are given nutritious meals every day and provided with essential ration support, thus preventing them from resorting to petty theft and begging to fill their stomachs.
In 2018, Wishes and Blessings came up with another programme and opened its first old age home called ‘Mann ka Tilak’. The shelter is meant to give a home to abandoned elderly men and women in Delhi/NCR. The NGO provides all the facilities at the old age home for completely free of cost.
Till date, the organisation has reached out to over 60 potential beneficiaries, many of whom have been rehabilitated with their families.
In the past, the organisation has provided relief essentials to people in Bihar, Nepal, Kerala, and Assam as well. In addition, each year, during the winter months, the organisation executes relief under its Winter Relief Project, wherein from December to February, the team heads out to distribute blankets, sweaters, mufflers, socks, gloves, and even food to the underprivileged. On an average, every year, the organisation provides support to over 3,000 underprivileged and homeless people.
Geetanjali now wants her NGO to be synonymous with charity and hopes to spread her vision to more people.
Edited by Megha Reddy