Helping Hand

Vijay Phalnikar's son Vaibhav passed away in 2001 due to Leukemia.

In 2001,after the passing away of his young son,Vijay Phalnikar founded a trust to reach out to orphans and senior citizens. Ten years later,he still points to his son’s memories as his main driving force

Vijay Phalnikar’s son Vaibhav passed away in 2001 due to Leukemia. Phalnikar and his wife were heartbroken. All parents dream about giving their children a good education and profession and seeing them settled in life. Over a period of time,we realised that our grief was nothing compared to that of children who do not have parents and older citizens whose children turn them out of their homes, Phalnikar says. This realisation inspired him to reach out to them. He set up a trust Vaibhav Phalnikar Memorial Foundation,and started providing free ambulance services to the needy so that they may get immediate medical care.

When we started in 2001,we had modest means. We purchased an ambulance. Everyday after I finished my work,I would go on calls at night in Kothrud as we couldnt even afford to keep a driver, he says. The initiative slowly expanded from an Ambulance service to an orphanage,an old age home,a vocational training institute and a rural hospital at Dhonje Village near Pune. The Foundation celebrated its tenth annual day on Saturday,December 24,and Phalnikar feels that a long road still lies ahead.

He set up the Apalaghar orphanage in Warje after the ambulance service. We sold two of our flats to purchase the land. As time went by,we started the vocational training institute to provide free industrial training to youngsters from nearby villages and Dhonje village. This was followed by another orphanage and a senior citizens home at Dhonje, he says.

Currently they have 62 children at the orphanages and 82 senior citizens at the senior citizens home. They conduct three-month government recognised courses at the vocational training institute,which is also free of cost. A hospital coming up in Dhonje village will provide free treatment to patients and will be operational by February. Phalnikar makes a special mention of S Karad of MIT who donated the money to build and manage the hospital.

Vaibhav still inspires me to face challenges when I am totally down and out. He would have wanted to bring a smile to every face in this world. That is my biggest motivation, he says.

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