Cakes, chips and fruit juice… 25-yr-old entrepreneur distributes snack boxes in Fraser Town school to spread smiles among underprivileged kids; next, she plans
to start an NGO to teach English to students of Urdu- & Kannada-medium schools

 In this greed-filled world, a 25-year-old entrepreneur has set a shining example of how sharing can spread joy; and her efforts are already spreading smiles among children of a local government school in Fraser Town.

This young entrepreneur, Ameena Shaikh, running an event management company, keeps aside a part of her income every month, which goes into buying snack boxes filled with goodies for 210 schoolchildren studying in class 1-5. The boxes contain a piece of cake, potato chips, and a fruit juice.

Last week, when she distributed the boxes, the twinkle in the eyes of the children — all from underprivileged background — said it all. Inspired by her grandfather, Ameena has ensured that not a single month has gone without her separating a part of her income for charity.

“My grandfather is my inspiration. He gave away two acres of land in our native place (Tiptur) so that the poor could build their homes there. As for me, I began my event management company when I was in the second year of my degree. Right from my first income, I have always given a part of it for charity,” she says.

In the beginning, it was small things like packets of biscuits for kids, and even books and uniforms. “However, these are little kids, they find happiness in such goodies and cakes and all I wanted is to spread smiles. For these kids, a cake is a big thing, and I plan to bring all these pieces of happiness for them. As my income grew, my charity has also expanded,” she says.

Although the beginnings have been humble and Ameena works single-handed with no outside donations or help, she has bigger plans.

With her soon-to-begin NGO, Al-Maysan Trust (which means ‘the shining star’), she plans to bring volunteers on board and also accept donations.

In the coming months, Ameena and her NGO plan to take charity to the next level by educating the underprivileged.

“This NGO will begin working by next month. For now, I have 2-3 volunteers who only assist me in the distributions, but in future I do not want to constrict to distributing but will start English classes across Bengaluru for both Urdu and Kannada medium schools. I plan to go to city colleges to gather volunteers. I am sure there will be students who want to do some good work for the society. Also, with the NGO in place, we can take the charity work to a bigger level by donations as well,” she says of her plans.

Although she doesn’t believe in publicity,Ameena feels this would inspire people to do more and also join her as in her efforts. For her, helping people in need is more of a soul-purifying exercise and spreading smiles is what she calls ‘her calling’: “My trust is open for any number of volunteers who want to make a positive change. For me, charity means happiness. I cannot simply put it in words, but the moment I see smiles on these cute faces of children, or when I see someone is doing much better and is happier, I feel a whole lot of peace/calmness.”

source: http://www.bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com / Bangalore Mirror / Home> Bangalore> Cover Story /  by Farheen Hussain, Bangalore Mirror Bureau / January 26th, 2017