The Social Service Guild (SSG), in association with BREADS, Bangalore and the Past Pupils Bangalore Unit, organized the Christmas celebration for four hundred children from its ten tuition centres at the Kristu Jyoti College (KJC) campus. The event was preceded by intense planning by the various committees in charge of the different aspects of the celebration.
On the day of the celebration, the children were provided breakfast at the tuition centres and were brought to KJC by the Lake Montfort School buses. They were then directed to the registration counter managed by the first-year students of Theology of KJC, Novices from St. Anne’s of Bangalore and Ursulines and volunteers from the Past Pupils.
At the registration counter, they were greeted by the in-house Santa Claus, who welcomed them with a refreshing drink and entertained them as they went about their registration process. The children from the ten centres were then led to the KJC auditorium, where they settled down comfortably. Soon after, the Chief Guest of the day, Rev. Fr. Prasad Joseph SDB, Director of BOSCO (Bengaluru Oniyavara Seva Coota) Mane, Director of BOSCO Nivas, Director of City Childline, Bengaluru, along with the President of the Past Pupils Unit, Bengaluru; Rev. Fr. Cyriac Thayil SDB, Professor and Administrator of KJC; Rev. Fr. Sivy Koroth SDB, Professor and Director of KJC Publications; Rev. Fr. P.I. Thomas, Professor at KJC and Rev. Fr. Sunil Jose SDB, Secretary of SSG and in charge of the philosophy department, graced the occasion.
The celebrations began with an invocation prayer dance by the children of Swathantra Nagara tuition centre, followed by the lighting of the lamp by the dignitaries, teachers from the ten tuition centres and student representatives. Fr. Sunil Jose SDB, cordially welcomed the gathering, following which Fr. P. I. Thomas SDB gave a short and meaningful Christmas message. Fr. Prasad SDB, in his inimitable style, riveted the crowd with his engaging talk. This was followed by a Christmas theme-based dance by the Jyoti Nagar tuition centre. After this, Christmas gifts were distributed to the teachers of the tuition centres along with a keepsake group photograph. The inaugural session ended with carol singing by the first-year students of Theology of KJC.
Soon after the inaugural session, the children were given instructions about their participation in the various competitions — solo dance, fancy dress, speech, painting, drawing, solo singing, mono acting, poster presentation, handicraft (on the theme best-out-of-waste) and group singing. The children were then accompanied to their respective event venues by the volunteers according to the three age-based categories. At 12.30 pm, they were served a scrumptious lunch prepared on campus, by Ms. Lucia Rani, who was assisted by a team of volunteers and first-year students of theology. After lunch, the remainder of the competitive events were conducted.
The children then were assembled in the auditorium for the Vote of Thanks, followed by a dance by the Thambuchetty Palya tuition centre children. The Past Pupils then distributed Christmas gifts to the children, which was followed by the distribution of the stationery aids provided by BREADS, Bangalore (a backpack, notebooks, and a pouch with writing material). This was followed by the awarding of medals and certificates to the winners and runners-up of the various competitive events that were conducted and with that the Christmas celebrations for the year 2022, came to a close.
Before the children headed back home, they had a mini jam session and were provided ice-creams. The entire day’s events were captured on camera by Mr. Santhosh Kumar — Chief Manager HR, JMR Infotech — a professional and avid photographer.