chennai come october people across the country prepare to ring in the festivities whether its navratri or diwali or daan utsav the joy of giving week which is celebrated from october 2 to 8 every year is the largest festival of philanthropy which encourages people of all age groups and from all walks of life to participate in volunteerdriven initiatives this time too the city is all set to celebrate the week and the overarching theme this year is a desire to ensure that no one goes hungryno food waste an ngo in chennai that collects excess food and delivers it to the needy is encouraging people to give freshly cooked food to the hungry during daan utsav we will be collecting meal boxes from people who want to participate and give it to the homeless says arun kumar coordinator of the chennai chapter adding that the initiative will be on the whole of october many festivals are celebrated during that month and october 16 is world food day so we didnt want to limit it to one week he saysanother ngo eco kitchen is requesting citizens to gift a meal for rs 30 so that october 2 to 8 can be a hungerfree week chennai volunteers will also run their dinner with dignity programme where citizens cook and serve the homeless in their localities a healthy homemade meal several schools and colleges in the city have also begun collecting a fistful of joy one fistful of sugar or dal which will then be donated to those in need ahead of the festive seasonthe underprivileged are also doing their bit for the festival the children and youth of arunodhaya an ngo have begun collecting plastics and recyclables from every household in the slum community they will sell it to the raddiwallah and the money raised will be used to buy dustbins or install cctv cameras for their community says aarti madhusudan volunteer daan utsav they feel womens safety is a concern and while the government is doing its best women and girls in the area will feel less worried stepping out onto the roads if they know there is a camera monitoring the placethere are plenty of other initiatives indian oil corporation will open up its bunks to ngos so they can utilise the space to spread awareness about the various causes they support volunteers will also go down old mahabalipuram road thanking police for the work they dothe festival has grown bigger each year and this time i feel the festival is finding its own feet as organisations and individuals are coming up with initiatives of their own to celebrate the week without any push from anybody says aarti its obvious that they have experienced the joy of giving earlier