The Dombivali Centre known as 'Shri M.K. Chaudhary Memorial Centre for Services to the Visually Impaired operated by Snehankit Helpline' completed two years on May 8, 2019. Mrs. Mangala Chaudhary, wife of late Shri M. K. Chaudhary and their son Mr. Abhijeet Chaudhary attended the centre's first anniversary celebration. They were very impressed with the progress and work done by the Dombivali Centre. Presently, eight visually impaired students are being benefitted by the Centre.
Home Teaching Project, was started from July 19, 2019. Through this project, home visits to train the visually impaired students in orientation, mobility and training them in doing personal chores have been undertaken.
Foundation Day was celebrated on August 25, 2019, at Chhabildas Boys' School Auditorium, Dadar (West). About 100 people attended this celebration.Chief Guest was Dr. Vandana Chakrabarti. Dr. Vandana Chakrabarti, is a retired Vice Chancellor of SNDTWomen's University, Mumbai. She has been a very accomplished educator guiding the SNDT University in conducting many new and unique courses during her tenure. She stressed on the importance on how students should not allow visual impairment to become a disability with the help of Snehankit Helpline.The Guest of Honour was Dr. Rashmi Fadnavis. Dr Rashmi Fadnavis is the Head Of the Department for Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Jeevan Vikas Kendra Hospital, Andheri. She was all praise for the work done by Snehankit Helpline with the dedicated help of its volunteers.As a part of the Foundation Day celebration, an interview was conducted with Dr. Abhida Dhumatkar, Head of the Department of History at Sathe College, Vile Parle. She carries a doctoral degree in History from Mumbai University and is a recipient of the Charles Wallace India Trust Research Fellowship for doing Archival Research in London. Though visually impaired she is proficient in 15 languages.The interview was conducted by Ms. Anagha Modak who lost her eyesight due to a dengue infection. She is a radio jockey and hosts her own programmes on Radio and TV.
A workshop on editing books was held on November 24, 2019, at the Andheri office of Snehankit Helpline. Mr. Sushant Benkar of Bookshare trained ten volunteers at this workshop with the support of India Bookshare.
Volunteers Day was celebrated on December 14, 2019, at Bal Vikas Kendra, Ramabai Paranjpe Bal Mandir at Vile Parle (East). The theme of the day was 'Evergreen Volunteers', wherein the talents and skills of the various volunteers were show-cased.
BrailleMe Training Workshop. Snehankit Helpline has given 20 BrailleMe devices, at a subsidised rate, to 20 deserving visually impaired students. The receivers required training to operate this device, which was also given by Snehankit Helpline on December 16, 2019.
A Life Skill Training Camp for Young Adults was conducted by Snehankit Helpline at Sobti Respite Care Centre at Wada between December 26 and 30 2019. The aim of the camp was to give 25 participants from age group of 16 to 22 years, a taste of independent life outside their home environment and teach them life skills.
Residential Camp held at Jeevdaya Jain Dham, Bhalivali, Virar between April 21 and April 28, 2019. Twenty-Sixvisually impaired children comprising 12 girls and 14 boys, in the age group of 12 years and 18 years, hailing from Mumbai, Thane, Dombivali, Kalyan, Ulhasnagar, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Solapur and Aurangabad participated in this camp. The aim of the camp was to demonstrate to these participants how to be independent without family help. Pre-vocational guidance was given to them, to help them to make more informed choices regarding their career.
