Rekha Mody traces her preoccupation with the cares of the underprivileged to her mother’s influence. "She was a dynamic lady who received various awards for social and cultural activities and set up schools and colleges in India," recalls Rekha. The initiation was thus early, but it was only after Rekha married and shifted to Calcutta that her work really blossomed. Here, along with three colleagues, Neeru Poddar, Prabha Kumar and Amrit Agarwal, she founded the Divya Chaya Trust in ’85 to create a support line for orphaned and destitute children.
The trust, in collaboration with renowned institutes like Ramakrishna Vivekananda Mission, Sulabh International, Cini-Asha, National Council of Women in India and the All-Bengal Women’s Union Children’s Welfare Home, has today expanded to far-flung areas of Bengal, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Divya Chaya is also working in tandem with the UK charity Save-a-Child, where one of their first supporters, Louise Nicholson, is one of the trustees. While funds have largely come from corporate and individual efforts,...
