DaanUtsav (formerly The Joy of Giving Week) is an entirely volunteer-driven initiative which encourages people to indulge in any act of giving of their choice. There is no blueprint and the idea is to get everyone to participate in this festival of giving and experience the joy of the act. Started in 2009, the festival is celebrated across the country from October 2nd to 8th.

Daan Utsav is a great platform that brings together people from all walks of life and encourages them to share their time, money, material, skill or just love. This festival is like any other – Diwali, Id, or Christmas – except that it celebrates ‘giving’ across all religions, castes, and social strata. Thus it is a fantastic unifier that dissolves boundaries by pure acts of benevolence.

You can organise/do your own event/activity to celebrate the festival of giving, Daan Utsav or you may consider being a part of the large public events that are happening in Bangalore.

Some ideas for celebration:

As a family, spend some time at an old age home, play with kids at an orphanage, make sandwiches and distribute to hawkers or vendors on the street, give a surprise day off to your maid, buy a street vendor’s article by paying five times the price, make a pot of chai for the night watchman or take your maid’s kid to a movie at a multiplex.

Public events that are happening in Bangalore

Digital Audio Library: An effort by Sankara Eye Hospital to convert 50000 book titles into a recording/audio book format. This is being done to enhance accessibility to the academic and recreational reading for people who are visually challenged. This is a PAN India event. For more details, write to daanutsavaudiobooks@gmail.com

Motte Kotte: Egg Factory will crowd fund using Milaap to give 100000 eggs as nutrition to the underprivileged children and the elderly. On World Egg Day, these eggs will be distributed by the feeding group, Let’s Feed Bengaluru. https://milaap.org/campaigns/egg-factory

Daan Utsav @ BMTC:
1. The public will be encouraged to donate bus passes for the deserved and the underprivileged:
2. Five special Daan Utsav Giving Buses will be running across the city as moving collection centres and to raise awareness
3. Several bus stands to be opened up for NGOs to put up collection booths
4. Beautification of KBS Majestic bus station by Let’s be Change
For volunteering, you may contact: anirudh.axn@gmail.com
For more details visit: www.milaap.org/campaigns/bmtc-bus-pass

Feed with Love:
A joint initiative of three groups – Feed Your Neighbour, H.U.G. and Let’s Feed Bengaluru will conduct the largest food drive ever done in the city of Bengaluru. They will distribute home cooked food and dry rations contributed by citizens across the city and streets of Bengaluru throughout the festival to someone who needs a meal made with love. Their target is 2,00,000 meals over the seven days of the festival. For details, give a missed call to: 8088 872 872

SPAR Hypermarket:
Collection drives at their 17 outlets across the country will be organised and 2 percent of the proceeds from Spar labelled products will be given away for a cause

Kempegowda International Airport:
Here is a chance to fulfill the wishes of NGOs who will put up WishTrees at the airport to raise funds and talk about their cause to passengers. You will find them after the security check area.

BigBasket – an online grocery store:
Order a special SKU combo kit (1 kg rice+ ½ kg dal and half kg sugar) through the site and donate. Big Basket will deliver it to the deserving/needy people. This will be done across 25 cities!

St. Martha’s Hospital:
The hospital will be raising funds from the public for diet sponsorship of poor patients, first time dialysis for patients and contribution of Rs 100 or more for a poor patients fund. Donations may be channelled through https://milaap.org/campaigns/stmarthas

Youth for Parivarthan:
Honour the Pourakarmikas in three wards by buying a sumptuous breakfast and new clothes for them. Funds for this will be raised by crowd funding at https://milaap.org/campaigns/yfp

Toy for Joy:
Kavade (a toy hive) and Toy-Let (a toy rental center) are collecting new and old toys and story books at various collection centers across Bangalore which will be given to Anganwadi’s in rural parts of the Karnataka. For details, contact: daanutsavtoyforjoy@gmail.com

Digital WishTree:
Gives an opportunity to create a WishTree and fulfill the wishes of children, the elderly or the organization’s needs. For details, visit: www.wishtree.icfn.in

Under the Stars:
A unique sleep-out event aiming to raise awareness and funds for the homeless. Sleeping under the stars is a romantic concept for one night, but for many children and adults in our city and across India who live without shelter, it is a harsh and very real way of life. For details visit: www.icfn.in/under-the-stars