To DA With Love! St Aloysius ITI Team Stitches Face Masks for Health Care Staff on Dist Admin Request
To DA With Love! St Aloysius Industrial Training Institute (ITI)-Mangaluru Team Stitches Face Masks for Health Care Staff on District Administration (DA) Request
Mangaluru: During the Coronavirus lockdown St Aloysius Institutions is playing an important role in various capacities. Apart from donating nearly Rs 20 lakh worth of groceries to the migrant workers, low wage labourers and the needy families, since two weeks, and still carrying it further until the lockdown is lifted, the Listening Centre of St Aloysius College has also come up with online counselling services to those distressed by COVI-19 called Manothejaka. The College Community Radio Sarang is continuously broadcasting awareness programmes on protection and prevention by interviewing government and health officials. Community Radio Sarang 107.8 FM, being broadcast from St Aloysius College (Autonomous), has been broadcasting programmes for 16 hours daily despite the lockdown for the last three weeks. During the lockdown the programming has been focused on Corona related issues.
The station has particularly focused on COVID – 19 and related social and medical issues. As many as five doctors have come to the station for live phone-in programmes in the last two weeks and have answered listeners’ queries. There was also a live phone in programme with a counselor. The staff members also went to the field to interact with the listeners and broadcast live their joys and sorrows. The station has an app available on google play store and the programmes stream 24 hours. (Ref: Community Radio Sarang 107.8 FM broadcasts from St Aloysius College for 16 hours Despite Lockdown )
While the locals were helped by the district administration through public distribution system (PDS), the migrants and construction labourers were finding it extremely difficult to find food. However, the locals complained to the volunteers who went to distribute the food items that what they got from through PDS was bare minimum. And this is when Aloysians/MJES decided to step in, in order to provide the needed essentials/commodities, thereby make these suffering humanity during lockdown happy. (Ref: A True Aloysian Spirit of Serving Others! MJES Donates Rs 20 Lakh Worth of Essentials to the Needy )
And now, St Aloysius Industrial Training Institute, with a bevy of their staff and students have come forward in helping the District Administration with their request of stitching nearly 1500 face masks, as requested by the dist admin. The work that was started two days ago, is supervised under the guidance of Fr Cyril D’mello SJ- the Director of St Aloysius ITI, Roshan D’souza- Principal, Romius D’souza and Wilson Martis-both Junior Training Officers, and Giridhar Salian- the Nodal Officer of the Govt IT institution- and the stitching of face masks is done by energetic and hard working team, comprising of Ms Doreen Sneha Prabha- JTO in Sewing Training Section, Ms Kanti D’souza- Attender/Maintenance dept , Mahalaxmi and Deeksha-both ex-students of the Institute; and Ms Basamma, Ms Diklora Moulang and Swathi- all three current students at the institute.
The material for the face mask has been supplied by the district administration/DC office, and only the stitching work is undertaken by the institute, including the transportation and food expenses. To stitch each face mask it takes about 15-20 minutes, and per day 200-225- and all these volunteers are doing the work in keen interest, since they are helping in a good cause, and since the face masks are to be used by the health care staff, who are doing yeomen service during this deadly pandemic.
Speaking to Team Mangalorean, Fr Cyril D’mello SJ said, “When the District Administration/DC picked our institution among the other two ITI’s who are also assigned the stitching work of face masks, we did not hesitate and our few staff and students in spite of the lockdown and no conveyance, readily agreed to help in this project, thereby showing the true Aloysian Spirit, helping out those in need or assistance. We are happy to be part of this project, which is solely for a good cause, where the face masks stitched by us will be used by health care staff during this coronavirus outbreak. My sincere thanks to our team for their time and dedication put into this project”
