Message from Cat Alumni President

I have been requested by the Cat Alumni President, Rajiv Bhatia, to carry his message below on the Blog.

But before I put you to the message, may I draw your attention to the late 67er Budni, Dr. Behram T. Badhniwalla.



I request you to respond to this request in memory of the tireless campaigner for this cause, the late 67er Budni, till his tragic passing just a year ago.

Announcements

Fellow Cathedralites

Some of you may be aware that our ex- teachers, staff and alumni need financial assistance for medical problems they face. In this age of rising medical costs, this is an important need.

Some ex Teachers are asking Alumni individually for financial assistance. Some of these requests are being referred to us. So this provides you with information on the program we had mentioned at the past 2 AGMs. See http://catalumni.org/news6.asp?nflag=AN

We know many alumni who have expressed the desire to contribute financially for such needs. And many of them have asked us to develop a way to provide their funds channeled through the Alumni Association as a charitable contribution. This will ensure effective use of the funds.

Our Alumni Association has put in place a program for getting ex teachers, staff and alumni financial assistance as warranted. This program is currently being piloted and tested with an ex Teacher.

For the program to be successful, we are asking the person who needs the funds to fill out an application form with relevant information to assess the needs so that the assistance can be provided in an ongoing manner and not ad hoc way. We will also try and help the person(s) with access to the alumni network of medical and social service practitioners’. And we will set up a system for monitoring and reporting the right use of the funds.

As you can see, this is an important program that if set up well can be of great help to many. A more detailed description will follow after we test the program. We will need help from any of you who may want to help in different ways to make this an effective strong program.

In the meantime, if you get requests for funds from ex Teachers, staff or alumni we request that you direct them me at catalumni@yahoo.co.in with a subject line "Proposed Contributions for ex-teachers/staff benefits" If we fund the requests through a systematic process, we will be able to help the individual(s) on an ongoing basis, and avoid any duplication of the funds raised for same purpose.

Past discussions are reproduced for your information as follows.

Alumni Association AGM Minutes

14-Nov-06 (Approved)
Presidents Report

"Ex- PE Teacher Mr. Majumdar had been assisted by ad-hoc contributions during and after his illness. Whereas the gestures of assistance were much appreciated by all, it was suggested that such contributions be routed through the Alumni Association for better monitoring."

13-Aug-07 (Draft for approval at next AGM 2008)

"Members Participation & Remarks

Medical Care for needy Ex-Staffers & Members

Pranay Shah, an Association member from the Class of 1970 has been taking an active interest in the development of a wellness & well being program for retired alumni and school staffers. A brief note was circulated to members present at the meeting and members’ feedback is sought. If the concept appreciated by the members, then the efforts forward may be taken. Interested members were encouraged to communicate with Pranay Shah, Pune Tel: (91 20) 400 44 881, 2 (Work) Email: pranayvshah@usa.net. Meena Bhat was concerned regarding the procedures for disbursements and monitoring such an initiative. Vijaya Pastala suggested that her reuniting class of 1982 ICSE, celebrating its 25th year reunion this year desires to raise funds for needy ex-staffers. She enquired if any such facilities existed as provided by the school. Rohita and Shyla responded in the negative. Rohita said that ad-hoc requests were almost always positively responded to by the Committee and generous members. Vijaya suggested that guidelines to monitor must be framed. She further said that Alumni would prefer to assist needy people as opposed to contribute to building funds etc. She questioned if a Pension Fund could be created. The President cited the caution of the Chartered Accountants of the Association who said that the earnings from amounts raised for such a specific fund would have to be disbursed within 5 years else the Association would have to pay tax on such earnings. The Chartered Accountant had advised in favor of all amounts being raised towards the Corpus and then utilized across the objectives of the Association, for better financial management."

It is important that the beneficiary and donors understand, appreciate and adhere to this. Any donor - beneficiary relations outside the inclusion of the Association cannot be monitored by the Association in any way and may be open to criticism as in the past.

Regards

Rajiv Bhatia

President @ your service


March, 27 2008

My personal request is to do it in the name of our late PT instructor, Arthur D. Morecroft, who, by his watchfulness and readiness, saved MY life in 1955.



I also hope that your helping hand will ensure that no one will suffer the ignobility suffered by our Maths teacher, the late Mr. R. J. Karkaria.

Please extend your hand to the needy from our own back garden.



Finally, may I remind you of a phrase that the late Mr. R. G. Salmon, our English teacher, taught me when I was in school.

"It is drops that make an ocean."