Mumbai, 31st January 2010: Gulf Oil Corporation Ltd., a Hinduja Group company, has today concluded the eighth year of their social initiative ‘Gulf Foster a Child Car Drive’. Mumbai Police Commissioner, Mr. Shivanandan flagged off the drive from Police Ground, Worli and ‘Teen Patti’ stars – Dhruv Ganesh, Shraddha Kapoor, Siddhartha Kher & Vaibhav Talwar spent some memorable time with the kids at the finishing point in Acres club, Chembur. The winners were announced by the movie debutants and the lucky winners of the ‘Gulf Foster a Child Car Drive’ gets a chance to meet the stars of the movie ‘Teen Patti’.
The winners of ‘Gulf Foster Child Car Drive 2010’ who will get a chance to meet the legend, Mr. Amitabh Bacchan are Geeta Castelino, Alpa Patel, Ajay Arun Sawant and Gilchrist Gonsalves.
From past seven years Gulf Oil Corporation Ltd., has been sponsoring this event and every year the event is being organized differently with some changes which makes the Participants as well as the underprivileged children feel different. The event is under the Corporate & Social Responsibilities of the company towards the society. This year some participants from the corporate world and Media world is expected to join the event as a participant.
The Sportscraft organized event held under the aegis of The Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India held today was open to all - but only to the first 50 entrants on a first come first serve basis. The event will be ushered off from Police Ground – Worli and wind up at Acres Club, Chembur.
This year event is supported by the Department of The Maharashtra State Police Housing & Welfare Corporation Ltd. by sponsoring the starting venue–the Police Ground in Worli, and Acres Club at Chembur, Mumbai by sponsoring the venue for the finish and Hinduja Hospital for the backup medical support in terms of Ambulances and doctor.
What is unique and sets this event apart from the others is the presence of about 50 wide-eyed orphans from Our Lady’s Home, Parel and St. Anthony’s Home Byculla. No doubt, this being a classless event it means that any person with a valid driving license can take part but additionally each car’s crew will be made up of a driver, navigator and minimum one child plus one orphan / underprivileged child. Yes, every participating vehicle must have one orphan / underprivileged child in the vehicle allotted by the organizers. The above mentioned orphanage / under privileged institutes are supported by Gulf Oil Corporation in terms of Kind – Gifts which is required by the institutes.
This will spell a new experience for the kids, as according to Director of Our Lady’s Home, Father Rui Camelo who noted, “This event helps to widen the horizons of the children, some of whom have never traveled in a car. They get to experience different things and interact with people from different walks of life and overall come back happy with the experience.”
Elated at the response Mr. Ravi Chawla, President, Gulf Lubes Business, India said, “The endeavor of this “Foster a Child” Car drive is to bring hope and joy in the lives of these under-privileged children and make them feel special for this one day. We at Gulf Oil hope that through this small effort we would be able to make more people conscious of the plight of these children and work towards establishing a better future for them.”
The children too were ecstatic. Some of them confessed that it was the first time that they saw places like Ballard Estate and Colaba, leave aside Bandra – Worli Sea Link. Adding fun to their outing were games at the Acres Club with ‘Teen Patti’ movie stars spent some happy and memorable time with these kids. The experience which both these kids and stars had will be cherished throughout their life.
An IT professional by career and a motocross rider by passion, Mr Surjith K.S is the man behind MotoXIndia.com
