XYZ (Xtremely Young Zoroastrians) is preparing to celebrate its Foundation Day on Monday, 23^rd May 2016, by dedicating the months of May and June to social service in a unique way via its ‘Making A Difference’ (MAD) outlook, by donating Blessing Bags to the underprivileged. Always supporting initiatives that benefit those in need, Parsi Times joins hands with XYZ in this altruistic mission and catches up with XYZ Founder, Hoshaang Golta, who believes that celebrations should spread smiles amongst all.

 

PT: How would you explain the ‘XYZ Blessing Bag’?

Hoshaang: The ‘XYZ Blessing Bag’ is our new concept this year. It will be a contribution made by each XYZ child and comprise general items of use including toothbrushes, soaps, napkin, snacks, Rs. 100 notes, old t-shirts, a small umbrella, etc. These bags will be randomly given away to any needy person spotted on the road or can also be donated to helpers like the domestic help, gardeners, peons, etc. The children could contribute anything of use in these bags and be innovative as well, as long as they keep in mind that it helps the recipient, who is not as privileged.

PT:  How did you come up with this idea?

Hoshaang: One of our XYZ Volunteers, Jeniffer Daruvala from Behram’s Battalion, saw a similar concept on Facebook and discussed it with the volunteers. It was to start off as an initiative for their group members alone. However, we decided to get all the XYZ members involved in it.

PT: What do you mean by ‘XYZ is MAD’?

Hoshaang: MAD stands for ‘Making a Difference’, thus the name of the initiative became ‘XYZ is MAD’! We hope that our XYZ kids become ambassadors of the same in their schools or at their parent’s workplace, as we seek maximum participation from all. This may be an XYZ initiative, but we would like if every individual makes this their personal initiative and be able to spread a smile or two through the ‘Blessing Bag’.

I thank Parsi Times for getting on board as well, and hope that every association and colony too gets involved and supports the cause.

Someone once said, ‘You may not be able to make all the difference in the world, but the world needs all the difference you can make…’

Quote:

Jeniffer Daruvala- “One day, I was browsing through Facebook when I came across a post of a lady giving out zip-locked bags filled with goodies to the poor. I loved the idea and thought of implementing it immediately, as the monsoons are now due and so many people on the roads will face great difficulties and scarcity of clothes, umbrellas, footwear or food. When we are stuck in traffic for hours, we can hand out these ‘Blessing Bags’ when we spot someone who could benefit from these. This will also work very well for the emotional development of our children, as they will be pushed to think about the basic needs that an underprivileged person is deprived of.”