Chennai: The ninth edition of Toy Joy marathon, organised by NGO Aid India, will be held 24 February at Elliot’s Beach at 5.45 am.
The NGO’s project director Gowri Subramanian said, “When we visited tribal villages to help the children there, we realised that the children do not just lack educational support, but they do not have playtime equipment as well. This is not the case just in one village but prevailed in 1,063 remote villages. In one village, a kid was using the pet rat like a pull-along toy. Soon after realising it, we mobilised toys for the Irular children. Now, he and his friends have at least one toy for playing. We started conducting the marathon after this incident to provide educational and toy support for the children of tribal villages,” she said. Aid India is sponsored by CanFin Homes for the event.
Gowri also said the team utilises the event as a platform to shed light on issues that plague education and its impact on the lives of children in Tamilnadu.
“We work towards improving the quality of education offered to the students and also train the teachers to achieve the result,” she added.
For people who cannot participate in the marathon but are willing to extend support, they can drop the toys in the drop points provided in the city and also donate online.
For details, contact +91 8939033833 or e-mail at [email protected]