KOCHI: ‘Reach World Wide’, a voluntary charitable organisation, is distributing school kits for economically-backward children. Around 4000 kits will be provided at twenty centres across Kerala on May 20-22. In each of them, there is a box of crayons, pencils, notebooks and a school bag.
“We are doing it because there is a need,” said Steve Thomas, head of the project. Raunaq Mathew, Chief Operating Officer of Reach World Wide, said, “If you don’t help the people in front of you then there is no point in worshipping God.”
Other than providing kits, ‘Reach’ is serving the poor and needy through activities such as fulfilling children’s wishes, conducting medical camps and setting up housing projects for the homeless across Kerala. They also have an environmental campaign, ‘Swapna Sundhara Kerala’, which aims to create an awareness of the necessity of having a plastic-free environment.
Incidentally, the inspiration for ‘Reach’ was the tragic suicide of a prominent businessman George Mathai (name changed) who had huge debts. It reached a point where he could not provide food for his family. He then asked for help from his Kottayam-based friend, Dr. Mathew Kuruvilla, a friend of Steve and Raunaq. The doctor offered money, but George did not want to take it since he had already taken so many loans. Tragically, George committed suicide the next day. That was when Mathew got the idea of starting an organisation named ‘Feed the Hungry’, which later became ‘Reach’.
Reaching every aspect of humanity is the main motto. It is based on the services of volunteers. Today, ‘Reach’ has helpers who work on programmes in Chennai, Mysore, Mumbai and Delhi. They also have volunteers heading their projects across 15 districts of Kerala.