Donation In Kind

To make a Donation In Kind you may:

• 1) Donate gently used old clothes and any items of use. Packed boxes can be dropped off at our Silokhera Campus in Gurugram, Monday to Saturday, 8:30 am to 6 pm. Kindly leave your name, phone number and email for the receipt.
• 2) Donate an item from our requirement list. For further details get in touch with anand.j@lotuspetalfoundation.org or  anushree.g@lotuspetalfoundation.org
• 3) Donate an item from our Amazon Wishlist.

All Donations In Kind will receive a receipt with a detailed list of the items donated and a utilization update where applicable.

DONATE NOW

Do’s and Don’ts

Do’s:

1. Treat all student information as personal and confidential regardless of source.

2. Communicate relevant information about students to the respective classroom teacher.

3. Seek clarification of unusual situations that occur in the school from the person(s) involved and avoid discussing such matters with non-school personnel.

4. Retain a sense of perspective regarding comments heard and actions observed.

5. Understand that not all information can and will be shared with volunteers, due to legal considerations.

6. Deal impartially with students regardless of background, intelligence, physical or emotional maturity.

7. Remember, that all information includes, but is not limited to: scholastic and health records, test scores and grades, discipline and classroom behavior, character traits of children.

8. Carry your office ID Card or Government ID Card with you while performing volunteer duties.Wear the volunteer ID provided by Lotus Petal.

9. Inform in advance if you are cancelling or re-scheduling the session.

10. Keep in mind that you are here to support teachers, not replace them.

11. Remember – if you don’t know – ASK! We’ll be glad to help!

12. Understand that the volunteer position is not a right, but rather a privilege.

13. Make sure that if above 18 years then you should have a degree in the related field and/or relevant experience in the field.

14. Get your parents’ consent if you are below 18 years of age.

15. Abide by all school policies including, but not limited to:

– Drug and Substance Abuse (Policy 351)

– Harassment (Policy 348)

– Tobacco Use (Policy 323)

– Child Abuse (Policy 806)

Volunteers are requested to follow all COVID-19 protocols and wear masks at all times while visiting the Lotus Petal Foundation school campus. Additionally, the following documents need to be produced at the gate.

– Aarogya Setu app on phone with the status of “No Risk”.

– Vaccination Certificate or RT PCR report.

– Body Temperature should be equal to or below 99F.

Don’ts:

1. Do not discuss student progress or behavior with the parent.

2. Do not discuss confidential information with anyone.

3. We do not give wages or other consideration for the performance of volunteer services.

4. We do not provide any social media coverage, but we can provide a creative to the volunteers to use on their social media profile.

Please note:

Certificates and appreciation letters are given only after completion of successful 18 hours of volunteering. These are signed by our Founder and Co- Founder.

Lotus Petal Foundation reserves the right to terminate volunteer service at any time for any reason.

Student Queries

1. What is the minimum age for volunteering?
The minimum age for volunteering is 15years.

2. What are the topics/subjects I can volunteer for?
We have academic and non-academic volunteering options. Click here to know more.

3. How do I apply to become a volunteer?
To apply for volunteering, please fill the application form given here and submit. The team leader will review your application and contact you. If volunteering seems like a good fit for you, you’ll be asked to complete the onboarding process and join.

4. Do I need my parents’ consent for volunteering?
Yes, if you are below 18 years of age we would need your parents’ consent.

5. How many hours do I need to commit per week/month to get a certificate from Lotus Petal Foundation?
Certificates and appreciation letters are given after successful completion of minimum 18 hours of volunteering. The certificates are signed by the Founder and Co-founder of Lotus Petal Foundation.

6. Can you post in your social media about my volunteering?
It is not possible for us to post about all our individual volunteers on our social media pages. However, you are free to share your volunteering experience with Lotus Petal Foundation on social media and tag us in your posts.

7. I have questions about volunteering that are not answered here. Whom should I contact
Please write to anushree.g@lotuspetalfoundation.org and we’ll get back to you with the answers within 5 working days. (If sending a question in a language other than English, the response may take up to an additional week.)

8. Will I be paid for volunteering?
Since we are a non-profit organization we provide certificates and letter of appreciation to the volunteers for their service. These are signed by the founder and co-founder of Lotus Petal Foundation.

9. Will I get a recommendation letter for applying to foreign college or university?
Recommendation letters are given to volunteers who complete their volunteering hours by providing continuous support to the organization and have made a meaningful impact with their work. We have provided volunteers with recommendation letters in the past, and they have been accepted in prestigious universities. The letter is signed by the Co-founder of Lotus Petal Foundation.

Sponsor A Child

Start your journey of sponsoring a child for a year by making a monthly contribution or a one-time donation. The contribution will be used towards the annual tuition fees and school supplies for the child. 

Once your decision is made, you will be matched with a student and will receive the login details of our cloud-based school management system Classe 365 to track the everyday progress of the student sponsored without infringing the privacy of the ward. 

You will be a part of the daily school journey of the child, with the ability to view the attendance, academic updates, school turnout and participation in the extracurricular activities. 

Regular updates on the progress will be emailed to you to ensure your participation in helping witness transformation. 

INDIA   USA   ROW

Sponsor A Meal

We provide freshly cooked breakfast and lunch to each child in school and the underserved in the extended community.

You can sponsor a special meal to celebrate an occasion or simply Sponsor A Meal from the regular menu of the Lotus Petal Kitchen.

Once a selection is made, our team will send you an update of the meal served with pictures of what was cooked and served and the location of the meal distribution.

For more details get in touch with anand.j@lotuspetalfoundation.org or anushree.g@lotuspetalfoundation.org

INDIA   USA   ROW

Make A Donation

You may support us in running the Lotus Petal Foundation by making a donation towards the general operating expenses.

The amount will be used to cover necessary everyday expenses towards books, digital devices, data packs, stationery, uniforms, winter wear, nutrition, medicines, teacher salaries, lease payments for classrooms and to support the admin cost to ease the daily operations. With your donation, we can continue to enable the children to break the poverty ceiling and lead a life of dignity.

All donations are tax-exempt under section 80G 12A in India; 501 (3c) in the United States of America and fully tax-deductible by the HMRC in the United Kingdom.

INDIA  USA  UK  ROW

Sujal

Student of Vidyananda School

Sujal is a Grade 6 student of Vidyananda School. His father is an electrician and they stay in Gurugram slum.

During the health check-up in 2018, Sujal’s height was 134 cms and he weighed 29 kgs. His BMI was 16.15. With daily nutritious breakfast and lunch from the school kitchen, Sujal showed an improvement in his height and weight and during the health check-up in 2019, his height was recorded as 140.2 cms and weight 34.5 kgs. He gained a healthy BMI of 17.55.

Sujal has freshly cooked nutritional meals from the school kitchen every day. The meal plan is designed in consultation with Dr. Nandita Chakraborty (MD, DNB) and proper care is taken in cooking and nutritional value measurement of each meal. This helps in keeping track of the nutritional requirements of children and fulfilling them.

Shabbir Ali

Student of Pratishthan Learning Center

Shabbir Ali is a Grade 12 student of Pratishthan Learning Center. He lives in Gurugram with his parents and two younger sisters. Shabbir’s parents work as housekeeping staff in a company in Gurgaon.

During the health check-up in 2017, Shabbir’s height was 142.5 cms and he weighed 33.1 kgs. His BMI was 16.3. He received regular nutritional breakfast and lunch from the school kitchen that includes banana, organic milk, seasonal vegetables, pulses and rice or roti every day. The low spice and grease diet are rich in protein and fibre and has shown improvement in his health and immunity. All meals are measured for nutritional value to keep track of nutritional intake. 

Within one year, Shabbir showed a good improvement in height and weight. His height increased to 155 cms and weight to 44.4 kgs. He gained a healthy BMI index of 18.52.

Aman Kumar

Student of Pratishthan Learning Center

Aman Kumar is a student of Grade 12 of Pratishthan Learning Center. His father is a driver and mother works as a housekeeping staff at Lotus Petal Foundation. His parents were struggling to give the required balanced diet to him and his brother. When Aman joined the school in 2017, he was an underweight child with a BMI of 14.6. His height was 147.5 cms and weighed 31.6 kgs.

As part of the school program, he receives regular nutritional breakfast that includes banana, organic milk with DHA enriched soy protein powder and poha or upma. For lunch Aman has fresh seasonal vegetables and pulses cooked in the school kitchen. The meals are measured for nutritional value. 

Aman showed a significant improvement in his health and school performance. Within one year, his BMI increased to 18.12 and height and weight to 160 cms and 46.9 kgs. His teachers noticed that he was more attentive in class. 

Kavita

Age: 41 years

Working in the school kitchen 

Joined Lotus Petal Foundation in 2017

Kavita is a housekeeping member of Lotus Petal Foundation. Her husband is a driver and her two children Mukesh and Aman study in Pratishthan Learning Center.

Before joining Lotus Petal Foundation in 2017, she used to sew clothes as her husband’s income was not sufficient to support the family. She was facing a lot of difficulty in running her house and continuing her children’s education. 

When Kavita came to know about a vacancy at Lotus Petal Foundation, she applied for the job and got selected. Since then, it has been no looking back for her. Kavita’s children are now in Grade 10 and she has become self-reliant. She takes care of her children’s school fees on her own. She believes that Lotus Petal Foundation has given her a purpose of living that was missing in her life.

Puneet Raj

Age: 23 years

Completed Jeevika Graduation from Pratishthan Learning Center in 2018

Currently, working at Asmara Apparels, Gurugram

Puneet Raj is from the first batch of students of Pratishthan Learning Center. His mother is a single parent who works as domestic help to raise her three children.

Puneet joined Pratishthan Learning Center in 2013 and completed his education from the arts stream in 2018.  He also graduated in 2018 with a 1-year Jeevika vocational training course in Dress Making from ITI Gurugram. The vocational course helped him to secure employment in Asmara Apparels, Gurugram, a Thailand-based organisation. He joined Asmara Apparels as a quality assessor and has been a part of the organisation since then. His white-collar job and financial stability have changed the financial condition and social status of the family.

Khem Chand the only earning member lost his job due to the pandemic. He lives in Gurgaon with his wife and two daughters. With no job and no alternate source of income, he was worried about how to feed his family run the household. 

One of his daughters’ studies in Vidyananda School. Khem Chand came to know about the BlueKhoj program from the school staff and approached for help. BlueKhoj portal lists all job-seeking parents of school students and helps them find jobs. 

Khem Chand’s profile details were collected and uploaded on the BlueKhoj job portal. The team shared his profile details with relevant people and Khem Chand got a job as a supervisor in Baobab Clean Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Gurgaon in August 2020. He is elated to get back the dignity of providing for his family.  

Hema Rawat joined the Pratishthan Learning Center in 2016 in Grade 8. She comes from a humble family background living in the urban slums of Gurugram, Haryana, India with her parents and two older siblings. Hema’s father Hari Singh Rawat works in a printing press and her mother Pushpa works as domestic help.

In 2017, Hema participated in the 1001 Stories Contest of Stratford School, Saratoga and bagged the 1001 Stories Award where her story was published in the annual cover story of Stratford School. At just 15 years of age, she understood that a good story is a mixture of words and expressions which allows capturing the right emotion.

Other than reading and writing, she loves Korean music and her favourite band is BangtanSonyeondan. Hema aspires to become a doctor. 

Thirteen-year-old Lajeena Kumari is a Grade 6 student of Pratishthan Learning Center of Lotus Petal Foundation. Her father Noor Muhammad is a daily wage labourer and her mother Maharoom works in neighbourhood households as domestic help.

Lajeenaenrolled in a school in Jhansi in Grade 1 but never attended school until she joined PLC.Her grandmother never allowed her to go to school in Jhansi.

In 2015 she moved to Gurugram with her parents and in 2018 she joined Pratishthan Learning Center of Lotus Petal Foundation. She was regularly counselled and guided by the school counsellors who made her understand the role of school and helped her in adjusting to the surroundings.

In six months Lajeena showed great improvement and a keen interest in learning. As per her teachers, she is a hardworking and confident child and looks for opportunities to participate in house activities and morning assembly. She is extremely participative in class and has also started conversing in English. 

Lajeena aspires to become a doctor and is working hard to achieve her goal. 

A student of Grade 5,Abhishek Kumar Paswan has been at the forefront of academics as well as extra-curricular activities. His father, Ashok Kumar Paswan is a tea stall vendor and mother Renu Devi is a domestic help.

When he joined Vidyananda School in 2015 in Grade 1, he did not know how to speak in English. But today he is one of the most fluent English speakers in the school. He was awarded the Raj Saran Varma Scholarship for Excellence in English in 2019.

As per his teachers and counselling team, he is an enthusiastic learner and he stays focused on the task at hand. He is a very sensitive and humble child who believes in helping and sharing.

He aspires to be a music director and make his father proud.