FUNDRAISING FOR EDHI FOUNDATION
ہيں لوگ وہی جہاں ميں اچھے
آتے ہيں جو کام دُوسرں کے
The good people in the world are those
Who are useful to others — Allama Iqbal
An example of this great saying, generally known as a great humanitarian, Angel of Mercy, and The Richest Poor Man, ABDUL SATTAR EDHI. Mr. Abdul Sattar Edhi is considered Pakistan’s “most respected” figure.
Growing up in Pakistan no one can deny the fact that he doesn't know who EDHI is. From seeing empty cots on streets for unwanted babies, to the sounds of Edhi ambulances when humanity bled, Edhi saheb’s services are everywhere. He was the man who felt the pain of humanity from the bottom of his heart for which he set up EDHI FOUNDATION providing services such as food kitchens, rehabilitation homes, shelters for abandoned women and children, and clinics for the mentally and physically handicapped. His only purpose of living was to serve humanity.
After the death of our beloved Edhi Saheb, the Edhi foundation started facing problems. A drastic drop of up to 30% in charity disturbed the functioning of the foundation badly. Thanks to Amal Academy for providing us a platform to work for the noble cause by fundraising to continue the mission of Edhi sb.
So, whenever I hear about a person who needs help badly, I make a mind to help him, no matter, I am able to help him or not. Collecting funds for the needy in this social crisis gives a sense of fulfilling our duties as responsible citizens. Some members of our group had the experience of fundraising and some don't.
Our mission was not only to collect a handsome amount for the Edhi Foundation but to create a sense of kindness, helping people, lending a helping hand to a person whenever one is in need, no matter what quality or the huge amount they are giving to us.
That’s what EDHI saheb said: “I want to make the nation one of the givers”.
Carrying on Abdul Sattar Edhi’s legacy, collecting donations for his foundation.
Strategy: Firstly, we decided to work it as a group. We called a team meeting a decision to work it as a team and implement AMAL’s fourth principle i.e. EK OR EK GYARA. Key strategies decided were:
— Go for a physical donation drive. (Across bus stops, donations from markets in appealing gestures)
— Make a pamphlet/ poster that every member will use.
— Use online resources for spreading our message.
— Spread this activity far and wide, among friends, relatives, colleagues.
Challenges:
We faced a lot of challenges during the collection of funds
1- To convince someone to donate money for the social cause.
2- To build the trust that we are actually raising funds for Edhi Foundation and we are doing all of this for humanity.
We relate our activity with the saying of Hank Rosso as;
“Fundraising is the gentle art of teaching the joy of giving”.
The biggest challenge we faced was this COVID situation which has now gotten very serious in our country. Due to which we had to cancel physical donation drives, instead of which we did it on group-cum-individual basis. Every member was asked to collect donations from their surrounding areas keeping all precautionary measures.
To overcome this we set up a donation box in our local area shops, where people would add 5–10 rupees. We tried to approach some popular brands also, and do drive at malls but unfortunately, we did not get permission for that. One member did this activity in her workplace and convinced people to listen to her and help for this cause. On the same day, 13 people at the instant paid her the amount.
Second, we started approaching people through social media. We not only updated our stories and statuses, but we texted every person in our contact list and asked them to spread this message among their circles too and donate no matter how minimal the amount it is.
“It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving” — Mother Teresa
Responses:
In doing the above activities where few happily agreed to help us, there was a lot of criticism and negative comments too. Some people accused us of a fraudulent campaign. Some of them said that this campaign is useless as people can directly contribute to Edhi Foundation and we are just wasting our time. While texting some people just ignored our messages, or some said do donate tomorrow or any other time. One member who is active in social activities had to listen that “It's your daily task to ask for a donation, don't you have any other work?!”.
We tried our best to convince the people and not get disheartened by such comments and behaviors. Some of us lose our hopes and decided not to try anymore, but then we recalled our mission i.e. for humanity. This failure will not be permanent it would heal. we stood up and tried again. We crossed all the barriers and collected donation happily with a bright smile :)
This activity of failure taught us many lessons. like rejections, if one door is closed so knock on the next door, try to search out other ways i.e. problem-solving skills. As the situation is not normal for anybody. we need to look from a different perspective by considering the difficulties first and then find solutions.
“IF AT FIRST, YOU DON’T SUCCEED, TRY, TRY AGAIN.”
Don’t give up too easily; persistence pays off in the end. We also learned if you want to get something and believe yourself then you can get it. So, we did try to learn from this failure & then convince more people for funds.
It helped us to understand people’s behavior towards helping other people that how lightly they take this responsibility of being kind and helping others. This really hurt us. We tried to convince them that “please donate even 1 rupee. Your 1 rupee could help someone in need.” and after getting responses we were very much satisfied that we received 1 rupee also. We accomplished the goal of Edhi saheb.
In summary, we could say that we learned how to work for the betterment of others or for a noble cause. This activity was very useful for us as we improved our skills e.g communication, leadership, and team management which are of great worth in any field of life. It gives us the confidence to face rejections and still gain mind satisfaction.
Edhi saheb you are still among us. We will make Edhi Saheb proud by continuing this chain of kindness. May our efforts get accepted.
