Mumbai: Maya CARE, a charitable foundation that provides free assistance to the elderly and is entirely managed by a team of emerging leaders who have overcome disabilities, has won the Best CSR Project Film Award at the second edition of the Socio Corpo CSR Film Festival. The award was presented at the prestigious film festival at the Ramee International Hotel in Pune on Saturday, 18 March.
On behalf of Maya CARE, the award was received by Archana Joshi, a wheelchair user proudly representing Maya CARE’s Project Bindu, Mahesh Kulkarni, who have been serving the elderly for over a decade of his association with Maya CARE and 84-year-old Maya CARE director Dr Suresh Gokhale.
The award-winning film showcased the inspiring story of Abhijit Mali, who met with an accident which rendered him a paraplegic, and how he overcame a paralyzing accident to become a Project Coordinator with Maya CARE Maharashtra through their Project Bindu initiative.
Project Bindu (which means “focus” in Sanskrit) is an empowering initiative that recruits persons with no work experience/relevant skills and are suffering from hearing/visual/orthopaedic/neural/learning disabilities. Project Bindu offers intensive training, mentoring and paid internships to enhance their self-esteem and independence, transforming them into economically independent professionals who join the ever growing leadership team of Maya CARE or embrace the opportunity to work with other employers like Indigo Airlines.
"This award is a testament to the hard work and dedication of our team and Project Bindu, who have shown that despite their disabilities, they can make a meaningful impact in our society. There is a sentence from this film, which is pertinent - Abhijit and others like him, irrespective of race/religion/culture, face the same sense of despondence, of being dependent on others, asking them for help all the time. But with the work they do at Maya CARE, they tell us that they feel pride, at being able to help thousands of elderly across the world, who bless them for their effort!" said Maya CARE co-founder Abhay Joshi.
Maya CARE co-founder Manjiri Gokhale Joshi, described Maya CARE film (seven minutes) winning the award as a milestone Maya CARE’s journey. She explained, “Our own Project Bindu team comprising emerging leaders who have overcome hearing, visual and locomotor disabilities have contributed to make this happen, including coordination with the film festival organisers, film editors, voiceover, submission and more, with immense support from volunteers who visit the elderly across India.”
