BEGINNINGS

It started with a small effort. In the Baranagar-Belgharia area, there was a huge construction work of expressway was going on and children living on streets used to come there to collect ashes and coal remnants. It was a meager but life threatening job. Rather than going to school, these kids had to earn their living in a dangerous environment. To the founder, Mr. Kallol Ghosh, (Kallol da, as he is called affectionately) it was a double blow to these kids. By working on these meager jobs rather than going to school, these kids were also losing their chances of a better future.

So he tried to help them read and write. He got these kids books and stationeries with his small pocket money. Later he realized not only these kids were unfortunate, they were in grave danger. There were peddlers and traffickers hovering around them trying to make their lives even more miserable.

These issues eventually led, after series of events, to formation of the group, Organisation For Friends Energies and Resources, or OFFER in short. Kallol da reminisces, “My contemporaries thought I was going insane and did not see my effort getting anywhere when I started”.

OFFER today serves nearly 5000 children on a regular basis.