I was born with a disability myself. My father wouldn't even touch me because of my disability. My mother took care of me. I was totally lost and clueless. Fortunately, at the age of 13, I happened to meet a very generous man in Chennai and the story of my life completely changed. I underwent 6 surgeries; all the expenses were borne by him. By the grace of God and help from him, today I can walk on my own. His generosity left a lasting impression on me. I wanted to give back to the society. The best way of doing that was helping others just as that generous person had helped me. Since I have been in a similar position, I could understand the struggles and challenges persons with disabilities, especially those who have been neglected and abandoned, go through. Hence SHADE was born.

SHADE stands for Service to Handicapped and Afflicted through Development Education. We provide crucial assistance to persons with disabilities and the elderly, people who have been termed nothing but a burden in many cases as per our survey in slums and villages. We travel to the remotest areas, on two-wheeler, locate the afflicted people, closely observe the challenges and problems they face on daily basis, and try to provide as much help as possible.

“We are born once, we die once, let’s do something good in between.”

Most of the people we serve come from farming or daily wages backgrounds, making meager earnings of Rs. 150- 300 per day. They struggle for basic necessities like food and shelter, buying wheel chairs or tri-cycles is a far fetched dream. Many of them cannot move on their own and have to be carried around making it very difficult for the family members. Providing wheel chairs or tri-cycles makes it easier for them to move around and their sense of independence is improved.

Many instances of disability can be cured with treatment and wherever possible, we support them financially. We also try to provide nutritional food and materials like blankets and clothes and other basic necessities. We also try to help people with grievous injuries due to severe burns. We try to arrange finances for plastic surgeries and corrective surgeries for the victims of severe burns.

We term our yearly visits to the remotest areas as "rebirth program". During this rebirth program we try to reach out to more than 500 families who need our help with wheelchairs, operations and other kinds of support so that they can move around on their own and bring a sense of comfort in their lives. Their lives take a completely new turn and hence we call it a re-birth bringing in a sense of independence. As the winter sets in, we distribute warm clothes and blankets to extremely poor people, irrespective of their physical condition.

We urge you to lend support to this cause and give a new life to the afflicted. Every penny that we spend is accounted for. Make a positive change from the comfort of your home. Donate generously and make like meaningful for many.