On the 9th of February, Team DBM organized and celebrated 11th Foundation Day. This day is and will always be very special for us, as a young organisation we are growing every day and we work with new zeal to achieve our mission: Education, Employment and Empowerment. We were overwhelmed with gratitude as all our corporates and donors, members of our Senior Citizen Centre, volunteers, NSS students of Guru Nanak College, our young school students from Dharavi and all our friends and associates were present for the occasion. All our school principals and trustees and heads of NSS units of various colleges were also present.

11th Foundation Day Celebration

The goal of DBM is a Hunger-free India where we dream of a day no one in this country goes to bed without at least one meal a day. The methodology that we have adopted to achieve this goal is 3E – Education, Employment and Empowerment of the most vulnerable sections of the society. We believe that only by educating and or making people employable and thereby empowering them, we can finally release them out of the clutches of hunger and poverty.

Our initiative in the field of Education: We have focussed on slum areas of Mumbai and vernacular schools and have tried to improve the quality of education and teaching methodology through our various initiatives. Last year we entered in the field of higher education. We opened a new centre – M-Power jointly runs with MCGM & TISS at Deonar, in M-Ward where almost 95% of people drop out after Standard 10th or at max after Standard 12th. This study cum Libary is visited by almost 200 students every day. They study in the Centre, they are offered career guidance and also prepare for Competitive Exams.

Our initiative in the field of Employment: Last year we have achieved several milestones in the field of employment in terms of getting more & more jobs for our trainees undergoing the skill programs. A major milestone of this year was that for the first time the fastest growing startup and mobile provider for personal and local services – Urban Clap employed some 14 of our Beautician girls. Whereas local parlours who employ these girls, pay them in the range of Rs. 6000-10,000 per month initially, these 14 could earn Rs. 35,000/- per month with Urban Clap!

We also started a new training course in collaboration with BOSCH ~ BRIDGE Program.

DBM felicitated some of its supporters, volunteers and donors who went out of their way to help DBM in 2018-19. Their details are given below:

1. J M Baxi & Co. This year as you all know there were widespread floods in Kerala causing lots of loss of life and property. As a responsible organisation DBM immediately flung into action and did its bit. There were many who came forward and supported us, but J M Baxi & Co. made all its 1222 employees across all its 14 verticals all over India contribute to this fund and which helped in the construction of many homes and distribution of household materials to 100’s of families. Shri Rajendra Khubchandani, Asstt. Vice President HR & Admin. received the trophy, a small token of our appreciation, on behalf of the company.
2. Nihchal Israni foundation. This foundation has been constantly supporting many of our projects be it Senior citizen project, Vocational training, Medical etc.. The foundation supports a very large number of NGO’s all over India and the organisation’s main individual Mr. Punwani, who with his vast experience is a good source of advice to us on all issues, accepted a small token of appreciation on behalf of the foundation.
3. Lions Club of Mumbai Harbour is another great supporter of DBM projects and whenever we have needed anything they have always been there to help us; be it putting up the solar project at our senior citizen centre (which incidentally is a fully green building and produces more electricity than it consumes) or buying computers and other things the club has never refused. We are grateful to Shri Suresh Mehta and Mr Jitendra Shah for connecting us with the club. Ms Bina Niranjan Nanavati & Mr. Bhupendra Patel from the club accepted a token of appreciation. 
4. Like Lions club, another gentleman also never refuses anything to DBM and in fact, if there is anything that he can do for the betterment of DBM schools and centres, he has always come forward to extend his help. Dr Jaideep Mirashi Chairman of Hillspring International school where we are sitting today is a fine human being and a great supporter of DBM. His school is really international in every respect.
5. As is well know, DBM is running this NV food Project for Cancer Children. Two individuals who have a have a heart of gold have been constantly supporting this project and making sure that the pain of these children while fighting cancer is shared by all of us. They are Shri Manjeet Singh and Shri Sanjay Didwania.
6. Ms. Ekta Shah – Like Dr Mirashi here is another lady who also always never says no to any DBM demands and in fact keeps on finding new ways of supporting one or the other causes of DBM. She is involved with many NGO’s and keeps on getting honoured in many places. This year she made Rotary Club (in its 90th year) support 90 of our children for MSCIT courses. We indeed are lucky to have such friends and supporters of DBM and that had made all this journey possible.
7. As we all know all trusts have to be tax compliant and like any other concern, file a plethora of returns- be it IT returns, FCRA returns, TDS returns and so on and on. For an NGO all this very taxing… and with limited resources finding someone to help in this is very difficult. But DBM has been very lucky to have our auditors as M/s C S Sagdeo and Co. who from the day one have offered their highly professional services totally pro bono! We are totally indebted to them for all their helpful guidance and support which they provide to us almost every day and which no amount of money can buy.
8. DP World – This company has been taking up various projects all over India under CSR to make a meaningful impact in the lives of people. It has constantly supported DBM in our attempt to provide skilling and livelihood training to youth especially women, enabling them to stand on their feet and thus moving out of the clutches of Hunger.
9. Apart from supporting with funds, there are many who devote their time and energy selflessly and volunteer with us. As we all know ultimately we need good human beings to deliver the progs and these volunteers are a boon to us. One such volunteer is Ms Rinki Anand, who after her retirement from government service at the age of 60 years has joined our NGO full time working pro bono handling our Champions prog and teaching English to our girls undergoing vocational training.
10. Another such great volunteer is Ms Bhawani Krishna Kumar who is CA by profession but she too has opted out of the rat race and decided to give back to society. She is also teaching English to our students especially Bosch course students.
11. Our CES Program is a very successful initiative and is largely run by students of NSS units of various colleges. The NSS heads of these colleges have been a large source of strength to us and have always persuaded and guided their students for volunteering. First is Shri Satish Kolte NSS head of KC College who is an extremely dynamic head and a great friend of DBM. Other supporters are:
12. Mr. Dhananjay Channale of Guru Nanak College.
13. Mr Nitin Bharaskar of Hinduja College.
14. And lastly, we have Shri Sandeep Digambarro Yadav from Somaya College.

Educational Institute supporting DBM

Felicitation by DBM

All the DBM Trustees – Shri Joginder Singh Uberoi, Ms Divya Bajpai, Mr KP Singh, Mr KK Jhunjhunwala, Ms Farheen and Mr Paramjeet Singh interacted with the esteemed guests who had come. Everyone wished DBM many many more years of spirited and selfless Seva. 

As we completed 11 years we are more & more confident that in the coming years we will be able to impact and uplift more and more people.