Sponsor the birthday celebrations of underprivileged Intellectually challenged youth

Manisha (name changed) is the oldest of three daughters. **She was born intellectually challenged. She was rebellious and unwilling to listen to any advice. Her parents didn't know how to manage her. They belonged to a low-income family and didn't have any resources to manage Manisha's needs.**Upon the advice of a neighbor, they brought her to the Diya Foundation. In the beginning, Manisha joined the team that made paper bowls. Her task was to cut the paper needed for the paper-mache bowls. This was her initiation into making friends and enjoying the high that comes from a day of engaging work. **The team at Diya realized that the way to keep Manisha interested was to continually challenge her.** She learned to make paper pens, magazine holders, on her own without any help. She paints terracotta lamps and has moved on to learning Kantha embroidery. She is incredibly productive, and the team is amazed at her speed when it comes to wrapping chocolates.**Manisha learned to do a lot of activities at the Diya Foundation, but the most important is that she has made friends. She feels loved and cared for.** She enjoys sharing and celebrating events like birthdays with her friends.As she gained confidence, her naturally vibrant personality has come out. She began making friends. She is charming, chatty and loves helping her team members. **She also substitutes as a trainer when required. She even has learned to assign tasks to the other team members.** Her family life has also transformed. She had become responsible and taken on the mantle of an older sister. She also helps with chores such as making tea, washing vessels and cooking.Her parents now have the confidence that Manisha can take care of herself.**You can also help underprivileged intellectually challenged youth like Manisha with little joys like a birthday celebration. Their lives are filled with challenges, and these little joys mean a lot to the students. You can support organizations like Diya Foundation who help these youth become independent. You can give with confidence because every program listed is [GIVEASSURED](https://giveindia.org/giveassured).**

Diya Foundation (DIYA) is a Vocational Training Centre cum Sheltered Workshop in Bangalore providing training and employment to underprivileged individuals who are intellectually challenged.Donation to the program will contribute to a fund that will cover the cost of birthday celebrations, gifts and daily snacks of the underprivileged intellectually challenged trainees. The differently abled trainees come to Diya Foundation referred by well-wishers to learn skills to help them become independent. Upon enrolling in the program, they are assessed in the different work units to gauge their strengths, likes, and dislikes. Once evaluated, they are then placed in a unit where they would achieve success, happiness, and self-esteem. Trainees are then given 'hands-on' training, and their baseline for production output is checked. Keeping in mind their challenges, limitations, and strengths, their goals for daily production are set and then recorded. Once targets are being achieved consistently, new targets are set, and trainees are taken to greater heights. Since the trainees continue training here for years and come to the center daily, a few recreational activities are conducted to keep them engaged. At the end of every month, birthdays are celebrated.The student whose birthday it is gets a small gift, and a cake is bought in to celebrate. The trainees also get snacks during the training days. When you donate to this program, you give underprivileged intellectually challenged youth with small joys like birthday celebrations.

Diya Foundation has the mission to enrich the quality of life and bring dignity to differently-abled adults by training them in life skills and vocational skills, building support systems and enhancing awareness in the community. Every individual has the right to be loved and respected. Thus, Diya Foundation strives to see individuals who are intellectually challenged, live with dignity, pride, and confidence in the present and future. People at Diya Foundation are given pre-vocational and life skills training to make them eligible for future employment, thereby enabling them to live a life of dignity. Diya Innovations Pvt Ltd is a project of Diya Foundation that provides employment to the differently-abled. Diya Foundation is an instigator, bridging the significant gaps that specially-abled individuals otherwise face once they complete school. Through training, intellectually challenged adults are taken on a journey from self-awareness to expressing their self-worth, striving towards self-organization and finally self-actualization. They have completely transformed the lives of those whose parents were constantly worried about their future and safety, by making them self-reliant. Diya Foundation believes in pushing the boundaries when it comes to the word 'impossibe'.