Time and again, compassion spills over at Technopark. The Rice Bucket challenge has got a successful edition for the fourth consecutive year in the IT Hub where techies donate rice packets to the non-IT employees to celebrate Onam. The collection kicked off on August 23 came to a close on Wednesday. This time around, the quantity of rice per person was set to five kilograms, which were neatly packed and dropped at the collection points in 14 major buildings – Carnival, Gayathri, Amstor, MSquare, Nila, IBS, Neyyar, Ganga & Yamuna – Technopark Phase 3, Thejaswini, Bhavani, Chandragiri, Quest Global, UST Global Campus, Infosys Campus – on the Park premises and Kinfra. The distribution takes place on Thursday. The campaign doesn’t stop there, a person who had taken part in the drive must pass on the challenge to a friend.
The Rice Bucket challenge, a name that rhymes with the popular ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, was started in 2014, the same year when the fad of dumping buckets of ice and water over a person’s head went viral on social media. The international campaign was meant to spread awareness on Motor Neurone Disease. Season one had a techie contributing one kilogram of rice to the drop boxes installed at every building and posting the picture on social media platforms accompanied by a hashtag. That year’s beneficiaries were the tribal families of Agasthyarkoodam.
Prathidhwani, the socio-cultural organisation in Technopark, was spearheading the campaign in the latest edition. During the initiative, each building has a contact person. The programme has been receiving rousing reception year after year. In 2016, the rice packets left after distribution were donated to a charity wing in Government Medical College, Government LP School, Gopal Ghat and Lal Bhag colonies in Thonnackal and a few orphanages.
