Financial Education Program for Women

On 23^rd September 2024 Free to Be Kids Charitable Trust, in association with the National Centre for Financial Education (NCFE), proudly organised a Financial Education Program for our community's adult literacy participants. This impactful initiative benefited 70 women, empowering them with essential financial knowledge.

The program was held in two locations, ensuring that our community members could gain the skills needed to manage their finances with confidence. We are grateful for the enthusiastic participation, and many attendees left feeling happy and satisfied, as numerous doubts were cleared up during the session.

A special thanks to Mr. Angshuman Bhattacharya for his smooth and clear teaching explanation which helped answer several important questions. We also extend our sincere appreciation to our dedicated staff for seamlessly organising the event.

We are happy to report that students of our Computer Training Programs are doing well and continually developing their skills. Currently we have a total of 48 Students attending these weekly Computer Classes.

Community Empowerment

Our Free to Be Kids Charitable Trust program continues to make a difference in the lives of young people in our community. Through our support we are proudly running vocational training sessions, where these bright young minds are learning essential skills for their future. We're not just teaching a trade; we're building confidence and independence. Together, we're helping them pave the way to a brighter future. We are so happy to see the development of each student and their new capacity being extended on a daily basis.

Self Defence Workshop

VIRANGANA: Empowering Girls through Self-Defence Awareness

On 16^th September 2024, Free To Be Kids Charitable Trust successfully conducted a Self-Defence awareness program at the Free to Be Kids Charitable Trust office campus, in association with the Rotary Club of Behala. We were thrilled to have 75 women and girls in attendance, all eager to learn and empower themselves through the vital knowledge of Self-Defence.

Each defence technique was expertly taught by Mr Utpal Chakraborty from Academy of Aikido Indian. After that nutrition guidance and counselling was given to further support the well-being of our participants. Everyone who attended received certificates in recognition of their participation, and we made the day even more memorable with a delicious lunch and evening snacks.

A big thank you to our participants, organisers, and partners for making this event a tremendous success!

FTBK runs this Literacy Program for Women in the Community to help to support them to be able to read and write in Bengali. This skill empowers them to care for themselves and their families in a greater way. Spending time together with other women in the Community is a unique opportunity to bond together and support each other. In the month of September 2024 a total of 67 Women Attended.

National Nutrition Week is observed every year from 1st September to 7th September to make people aware of the importance of nutrition for the Human Body and wellbeing of health. This year Free To Be Kids Charitable Trust organised a National Nutrition Week Program throughout our community projects. The Free To Be Kids team members taught the children about good food and liquids, some important nutrition like what are proteins, carbohydrate, fats, vitamins, minerals from the healthy food pyramid. The team conducted interactive sessions with the children to raise awareness about balanced nutrition. The activities focused on teaching the importance of different food groups through hands-on learning, where children used various grains, legumes, and leaves to create visual representations of nutritious meals. The Children learnt about the role of rainbow vegetables to keep their body healthy and build new cells in our bodies.

This engaging workshop aimed to instil healthy eating habits from a young age, ensuring the kids in our community grow strong and healthy.  188 children attend these workshops in nutrition week.

Our goal is to assist young people to be able to achieve their goals and dreams for future employment. In the month of July 2024 we have happily been able to assist two young girls to start their training in their desired courses of Beauty Therapy and Food & Beverage Service Training. Our support enables them to cover the fees for these courses including all travel and materials required.

As a response to the needs expressed by two young people that we know from our local Community, we decided to start a Vocational Training Program focussed on learning skills of Hairdressing. This training engages the help of a skilled hair technician from our local Community who is now actively teaching the skills involved in working in and running a Hair dressing salon. We know these skills will help these two young men find employment in their chosen field in the future. We are happy to provide this level of support for them to reach their goals.

On the 11^th July 2024,  Free To Be Kids Charitable Trust organised an Awareness Program to draw attention to the significance of World Population Day. 43 Children attended this program. This awareness program was conducted throughout our Education & Nutrition Programs in the Salt Lake area of Kolkata. The topics covered in this program were:

1. World's population number
2. India's Population number
3. Which country is the largest in Population?
4. What is India's number in World Population statistics?
5. What is West Bengal's Population Number

Each child participated in this program and completed a World Population Day picture to take home as a reminder of what they learnt during the session.

Free To Be Kids team runs a free Education & Nutrition Program in six different slums in the Salt lake area of Kolkata for children in need. In these areas the Community provides a place in order to gather the children so they can learn on a daily basis. In this monsoon season we were able to work with the community to purchase some plastic sheets to be able to cover the roof top to protect it from the rain and sun. Once again  the Education & Nutrition Program is running there smoothly in this rainy season. The community members and children are happy to receive this level of support that assists them to receive quality education.