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Blog, Scholarship

5 Years of Deepam Venkatachalam-Kalyani scholarship

In October 2021, a long term active volunteer at Deepam – Venkat, came up with the idea of supporting deserving college students through a scholarship.

Over the last 5 years, Venkat has always ensured the scholarship is funded, right at the start of the new financial year. The scholarship paid the college fee for a less-privileged student, for the year. It was named after his living parents. His patience to see through the scholarship process has helped ensure highly deserving students are beneficiaries.

The 1st beneficiary of this scholarship, Priyadarshini, was the 1st college graduate in the family. Her dad is an autodriver and could not afford to pay her college fee. She is now working as a software engineer at Zoho in Chennai. Her feedback is here

The scholarship team—Vasanthi mam, Lalitha mam, Abhishek, Prasanna, RR Sir, and others—has been instrumental in selecting the right beneficiaries and maintaining the program’s impact.

There is something powerful about everyone working together toward one clear goal: finding and supporting students who truly need help. This scholarship has a special way of finding the right people and changing their lives for the better.

 

Blog, Scholarship

DEEPAM Venkatachalam – Kalyani Scholarship 2025-26

Deepam Venkatachalam-Kalyani Scholarship for the year 2025-26 is awarded to Priyadarshini & this is her story.

Priyadarshini currently studies 2nd year B Com at a college* in Chennai. When she got in touch with Deepam in her 2nd year – her situation was fragile. Her dad passed away when she was 7 years (after abandoing the family). Her mom solely brought her and her sister up. Her mom earned a meagre income through her work as a child minder. She studied in a government school all through.

She joined college, through a loan that her mom had arranged. That paid her 1st semester fee. But she couldn’t pay her 2nd semester fee and wasn’t allowed to write her exams.

Her mom unfortunately, passed away earlier this year. It was at this juncture that Deepam scholarship team got introduced to her. Her 2nd year fee was due. Deepam Scholarships team immediately organised to pay her fee.

Despite all the challenges, Priyadarshini has shown a lot of courage and determination to keep finding a way. She & her younger  sister currently live with her grandparents. Her grandfather works as a coolie and his daily wages helps provide for the family. They live in a rented house as well.

To support her family, Priyadarshini started to work at a cafe near her house from 1 pm to 10 pm, post college hours on weekdays. On weekends, she works all day – to earn some money to support her grandparents. With the last semester exams and the current semester exams to clear and her days filled with work, she hardly finds any time to study. She carries her books to work and during the lean times at the cafe, she finds a little time to study.

Academically, her scores were not high. However, she is determined & hopeful of finding a way. Deepam scholarships will continue to support her through her college journey. In addition, we are exploring additional ways to support her.

Blog

Volunteer Feedback -SSN college student

 

The Joy of Service: A gist of my journey as a volunteer in Deepam NGO

In our busy lives, finding real satisfaction can be tough. My time volunteering
at Punitha Joseph School in Nungambakkam with Deepam NGO has shown me
just how fulfilling and transformative helping others can be.
What started as a college requirement for the Youth Red Cross (YRC) quickly
became a passion. Every weekend, I traveled 80 kilometres from Thiruporur to
Nungambakkam. Despite the long drive and traffic, those two hours in the
classroom with the students were incredibly refreshing. The energy and joy I
felt were worth every mile.
One student, Antony, made a particularly strong impression. Despite his
limited English, he wrote me a heartfelt note in English, which I felt was
recognizing my efforts. This simple yet precious gesture is one of the most
rewarding aspects of my volunteer journey. I’ll be sharing a photo of this
special note here for you all.


This experience reinforced an important lesson: you don’t need money to
make a difference—just a positive mindset and a willingness to help. As the
saying goes, “Service does not require money, only a mindset.” Helen Keller’s
words also ring true: “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
Even small acts of kindness can make a big impact.
Volunteering with Deepam NGO offers a chance to create positive change and
find personal satisfaction. It’s about making a difference with whatever you
can give, not just material things. Each small act of service enriches lives and
brings joy to both the giver and the receiver.

In summary, my experience has shown that service is about mindset and heart.
It’s a path to personal growth and fulfilment. By embracing the opportunity to
help others, you might find a new sense of purpose and happiness.

Rethnakumar R G
SSN College of Engineering
Volunteer – Deepam NGO

Blog, Uncategorized

Annual Report 2022-23

We’re happy to present Deepam’s annual report for the academic year 2022-23. We regret the delay in publishing the same. As always, we have presented key highlights of the year, new additions, and way forward for the next year. This, we believe will offer you a good summary of Deepam’s work during the year. Please do write to us in case of any classification.

Blog, Uncategorized

Priya speaks proudly of Deepam scholarship

Priyadarshini Prakash, an economically disadvantaged student, has yet again benefited from the DEEPAM Venkatachalam-Kalyani (VK) Scholarship that has helped a bright student pursue her college education. Witness Priyadarshini, who’s in her third year engineering speak about how Deepam has been at the forefront of helping her with not only financial aid, but also with professional help in terms of shaping her as an individual.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CvUztzFtCur/

Deepam is looking forward to introduce more such scholarships in the years to come. If you wish to initiate one in your name or in the name of your loved ones through Deepam, please get in touch with us by writing to – [email protected]

 

Blog

DEEPAM Venkatachalam – Kalyani Scholarship 2021-22

For the year 2022, the scholarship has been awarded to Priyadarshini Prakash – Priya has been a brilliant student and has scored over 95% in both her class 10 & class 12. Her college education fee is supported in part through this scholarship. We are proud to further Priya’s college education through this.

DEEPAM Venkatachalam-Kalyani (VK) Scholarship was formally launched on October 18th 2021, to provide financial support to less-privileged students as a collaboration program to honour Venkatarman’s living parents – Mr.Venkatachalam & Mrs.Kalyani.

In his own words, Venkat says – “For my father who is more righteous than any person I have seen, and my mother who is benevolent towards all life, this scholarship is a tribute from their son for a cause that we all believe in. There is nothing more important than education today. It is the only thing that will help us break shackles and scale barriers.  Having worked with Deepam for many years, we find no better place to start doing our little bit when all of us are alive and well”

Please click here VK scholarship to know more on the inception of this scheme.

Into the second year of the VK scholarship, the scheme provides an amount of Rs.35,000 towards paying college/school fees for deserving students. This annual scholarship corpus is likely to increase in the coming years to enable the scheme to be available for more students. This year, the scholarship has been supported by Mr. Vasudevan, Venkat’s beloved uncle. We look forward to more such individuals in joining this effort.

Deepam is looking forward to introduce more such scholarships in the years to come. If you wish to initiate one in your name or in the name of your loved ones through Deepam, please get in touch with us by writing to – [email protected]

Blog, Scholarship

DEEPAM Venkatachalam – Kalyani Scholarship

DEEPAM Scholarships was launched formally in early 2021, to provide financial support & guidance to less-priveleged students. This support can be utilised for college education (mostly) and also for school education.

Today, Deepam Scholarships team is excited to announce a new collaboration program – a scholarship program that can be instituted by any donor – an individual or family, in the name of their loved ones. This scholarship can be named to honour a living person or can be commemorative as well. This annual scholarship makes a direct impact by supporting a deserving student(s).

DEEPAM Venkatachalam-Kalyani Scholarship

As a 1st in this series, DEEPAM Venkatachalam-Kalyani Scholarship is instituted by Venkat on 18th October 2021, to honour his living parents – Mr.Venkatachalam & Mrs.Kalyani.

In his own words, Venkat says – “For my father who is more righteous than any person I have seen and my mother who is benevolent towards all life, this scholarship is a tribute from their son for a cause that we all believe in. There is nothing more important than education today.

Mr.Venkatachalam & Mrs.Kalyani

Education is the only thing that will help us break shackles and scale barriers.

Having worked with Deepam for many years, we find no better place to start doing our little bit when all of us are alive and well ”

DEEPAM Venkatachalam-Kalyani Scholarship will be an annual scholarship given to deserving less-priveleged students, to support their education goals. This scholarship currently provides Rs 25,000 towards the college/school fee of deserving students. The annual scholarship amount is likely to increase in the coming years.

Priyadarshini Prakash – 1st Recipient

For the year 2021, the scholarship is awarded to Priyadarshini Prakash – Priya has scored over 95% in both her class 10 & class 12. Her college education fee is supported in part through this scholarship

DEEPAM is thankful to Venkat & his family for initiating this new scholarship program  – This initiative opens a lot of opportunties to deserving students.

If you wish to institute a scholarship in the name of your loved ones, please contact DEEPAM – [email protected]

Blog, Scholarship

Deepam Scholarships

Every child deserves education – The basic requirement for gaining knowledge. Education is one of the fundamental supports that a child needs to become a productive adult. Many children don’t even get a chance at school education. Some don’t have the financial backing to go to college.

It is Deepam’s vision to see every child get a real opportunity at life – through school & college education. Deepam aims to support deserving children by providing them scholarships.

In 2020, thanks to numerous Deepam’s donors – 12 deserving children were awarded need-scholarship by Deepam

Deepam Scholarships 2020

The criteria used at Deepam to award the scholarships are (this may change over time)

  1. Are the children, from a less-privileged background? What do their parents do?
  2. Are they the 1st in their family to enter the school / college system? Are they 1st generation learners?
  3. What do their school / college teachers have to say about their attitude towards learning?
  4. (Optional) Do any of Deepam’s volunteers know them? What is their feedback?
  5. Usually, at this stage, their acadamic performance is not strictly considered for scholarships. Academic performance can be a limiting factor, given the background of the student. We do however, encourage the student to keep improving.
  6. How will this scholarship be utilised? Deepam requires fee receipts and communication from school / college

If you know any deserving students who are in need of money to pay their college fees / school expenses, please do send the details by email to [email protected]