Click here to view the article

Appeared in DNA on the 3rd of July,2010

Newark, NJ – MindTree Minds participated in the12th Annual Jersey Cares Day 2010 on Saturday, May 1st.  This year was even more exciting as we had the biggest turn-out ever for a MindTree team with 30 people - some MindTree Minds along with family and friends!  We joined thousands of other volunteers in the city of Newark for a day of caring and community revitalization.  This year Jersey Cares expanded the day to other areas of New Jersey, including Jersey City, Union City and Plainfield.

As always, the day was a rousing success! The team went to the Sussex Avenue School of Arts and Sciences in Newark. The professional learning community of Sussex Avenue School of Arts and Science provides, learning experiences for each child to reach his or her fullest potential and they receive foundational skills that will last a lifetime.

Their goal is to successfully facilitate the transition of every student from elementary to middle school to high school and eventually higher education. As students emerge as young adolescents they will be prepared to continue their discovery and develop interests and capabilities in the areas of academics, careers and life skills.

Sussex Avenue School was opened in 1900 and expanded in both 1904 and again in 1955. Nearly 50% of the school qualifies for free or reduced lunch. As volunteers we:

1) Painted line games and many murals in the school’s outdoor courtyard,

2) Painted murals in the school’s classrooms, hallways and stairwells

3) Cleaned and organized a storage room with years of accumulation and

4) Built a white-board for one of the classrooms.

This year, we were not concerned about rain, but the heat. The temperature was approximately 88 degrees (that’s 31 degrees Celsius!) and many of the activities were outside with little shade. But the team was up to the challenge and created beautiful artwork and cleaned up a few different areas.

Thank you so much to those who helped!

Coincidentally, we volunteered at the same facility a few years ago. It was really nice to see how well our last efforts of painting and beautifying held up at this school.

The great energy and commitment of all the day’s volunteers led to successful, transformative and truly incredible results at all partner sites. Jersey Cares mobilizes individuals in Northern NJ to address critical community needs through volunteer action. The organization coordinates volunteers to participate in year-round community service projects including: nurturing infants, feeding the homeless, revitalizing parks, caring for the elderly, raising cultural awareness and providing warm winter coats to those in need. Each Jersey Cares Day, agencies in Newark are provided with the needed support to provide valuable assistance to the city.

Founded in 1993, Jersey Cares is a non-profit organization that provides meaningful volunteer opportunities at convenient times for individuals, community groups and corporations. Through Jersey Cares’ monthly calendar of volunteer projects, its 5,000+ membership, performs more than 10,000 hours of service each year in northern New Jersey. Jersey Cares partners with 200+ non-profits to provide service projects that range from building homes with Habitat for Humanity to comforting fragile infants at Hudson Cradle. Jersey Cares is an affiliate of CityCares an innovative alliance of “Cares” and “Hands On” organizations across the Unites States, U.K. and other countries.

For more information on MindTree’s participation in Jersey Cares Day next year, or to find out how you can get involved, please call Jersey Cares at 973-424-1091 or on the web at www.jerseycares.org or email us at jerseycaresday@jerseycares.org.

Not bad for a few hours of work! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!

Link for the Pictures:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=741599675803%3A1665374052&sourceId=533754321803&cm_mmc=eMail-_-Share-_-Photos-_-Sharee

A presentation was made under the category ‘technology integration’ in ‘Closing The Gap’ 2009 Conference Topic Presented: The Minnesota-India AT Connection: Possibilities and Dreams Downloads: Presentation Assistive Technology Development in India

Presenters: Left to Right: Raja Shanmugam, Bridget Gilormini, Rabindran Isaac, Priya Rao

Click here to know more about the conference.

Write to us if you have any queries.