Mangaluru: For students in all city schools, one of the biggest highlights of the academic year is in choosing a club activity. This year, Manipal School, Attavar has expanded its club activities to include some unusual ones. Apart from the standard cubs and bulbuls, karate, skating, chess, scouts and guides etc, the management has added paper recycling, organic farming and a unique one called ‘Cradles to Crayons’.

This new club activity has gained a great deal of popularity with senior students as it involves a lot of charity work, field trips, one-to-one interactions with other students and plenty of organisational work.

The first institution the Grade 10 children visited was the Government School in Attavar. Armed with educational boards and science kits, they interacted with the Government School children for a whole afternoon.

In the manner of a lot of international charity organisations such as Oxfam, Save The Children and Action Aid, the club members have decided on a very ambitious but very do-able collection drive of toys, school bags, furniture, clothes, stationary and books in the city. Donated goods will be sorted out by the volunteers and then distributed to various deserving institutions in the city.

The idea of this new club is to reach out to children and adults who do not have access to books, games, educational equipment and a whole host of things. Every week, the plan is to go to such schools, orphanages, old age homes etc and donate what the institution lacks.

So this is the time for the city to ransack attics and cupboards. Be generous and part with stuff you do not want or have not used for a long time and let someone else put it to good use.