SMILES begins at The Muthoot Plaza

an initiative for Corporate Social Responsibility

The “beautiful children of God” attired in blue and red clapped in perfect rhythm to the rock music that played around, some danced, some shook their hips, some laughed aloud, some clinked to their teachers and some were bit panic on the colors and noise around … It was fun and frolic all around the Muthoot Rooftop today, as the Muthoot Plaza launched Smiles a corporate social responsibility conclave primarily aimed to help non-profit organizations devoted to the underprivileged, including children.

Smt. P.K.Sreemathy, Minister for Health inaugurated this noble initiative of the Hotel at a function held here today. To commemorate the launch, the Hotel organized a day-long programme for the mentally disabled students of Trivandrum based Marion Play Home. 50 students along with their teachers attended the function. To mark the beginning of Smiles, the Minister along with the kids made colored handprints and put their signatures behind them, on a wide canvas placed at the Muthoot roof top. Mr. Thomas John Muthoot, Managing Director, Muthoot Pappachan Group presented T shirts to the kids. An array of variety entertainments and a magic show were also arranged for the kids.

While speaking on the occasion after inaugurating the project, the Minister said that the society should welcome mentally retarded with love and affection and they must be recognized as members of the society. "Taking care of them is the responsibility of the society where we all live. The mentally retarded persons can be trained as useful people and we are proud that there are many organizations in the State devoted to this cause”.

“The government is planning several measures for the welfare of the children this year”; she said by adding that plans are on hand for funding a school for mentally retarded children in Shornur.

“Mentally retarded children in the society in most cases are considered as discarded and are kept them in isolation in a totally restrictive environment, irrespective of extent and intensity of retardation”, said Smt.P.Thankamani, Principal of Marion Play Home.

“Our school implements a special package of medical care, education, training with evaluation of intervals to make them either normal to continue their studies in normal schools or to make them less dependent on others in daily life. The school is also giving training to screen printing, envelope making, phenol making, soap making, greeting card making and the like. “Marion Play Home was started in 1990 and Mudhaskar Shah, the first student of our school is a staff of Marion now”, she added.

“As a Corporate Group, we're embarking on something new with this foundation”, says Ghulam Samdani, General Manager of the Hotel. By supporting Marion, we are helping a handful of kids in building their self-esteem. This is not a one-time programme but we look forward to continuing our cooperation with the Marion and other similar organizations and to seeing the children at our neighborhood grow and progress.

“We are planning to engage in a variety of charitable activities with the help of our guests and business partners. Supporting the healthy developmentof children in our neighborhood is of particular obligation of ours and this programme is only the first step towards this noble cause”.

The Sarovar Group, one of the leading hotel chains in the country and abroad, runs the Muthoot Plaza based in Trivandrum

Ghulam Samdani
General Manager

About Marion Play Home;

Marion Play Home, promoted and managed by Martha Mariam Social Service, is a unique special school for the total development of mentally challenged children. Based at Mannanthala, Thiruvananthapuram, the School implements a special package of medical care, education, training with evaluation at regular intervals for mentally retarded children in order to make them either normal to continue their studies in normal schools or to make them less dependant on others in their daily life. The school has bagged the State Award for the best special school in the year 2004-05, and its Principal Smt.P.Thankamani is a winner of the State award for best special schoolteacher in 2003-04.