PARSIPPANY — In March/April when COVID-19 started to impact our community, a lot of people started to mobilize help. Riya Dadheech, an Eighth grader, came up with a unique idea “Classes 4 A Cause” to help our community.
Around the middle of April, Riya called up her friends Nehal Singhal, Anika Arora, Prisha Khanna, Malvika Chainani, Krrish Thakker, and Ria Jain.
The entire team immediately agreed to volunteer their time and conduct online classes. Students between the ages of 6-13 would enroll and pay a nominal fee to learn or brush up skills such as Bollywood Dance, Taekwondo, Hindi, Coding/Programming, Indian Culture, Prayers, Spanish and Art.
The volunteers worked hard and designed 6-week courses. Classes began on May 24. During this first batch of classes, C4C team raised about $1000. 100% of the proceeds went to deliver food at Parsippany Food Pantry and Interfaith Food Pantry, Morris Plains.
The second batch of classes (started on June 5), more volunteers Milap Mistry, Aarnav Unadkat, Aarush Khanna, Prathmesh Trivedi, and Vanshika Pahilwani joined C4C team. Newer courses such as Chess, Math, Algebra, Rubik Cube were also added.
Encouraged by the success of two batches of six-week courses, C4C launched “Virtual Summer Camp” on July 15. Summer camp runs through August 21. During the summer camp enrollment, students pick two skills they want to learn/polish. Classes take place every weekday or Monday, Wednesday, and Friday depending on the week the students sign-up for. Please visit https://Classes4ACause.PurplePaint.org to learn more and to enroll.
Riya Dadheech, founder of Classes 4 A Cause and Purple Paint says, “It is really a win-win-win situation. Parents will be able to focus on their work as they work from home, children will spend a summer vacation in a constructive way learning new skills and above all 100% proceeds go to support our community.”
Classes 4 A Cause invites all parents to join the movement by enrolling children at https://Classes4ACause.PurplePaint.org. You can also support by simply making a donation. To make a donation, please visit https://Classes4ACause.PurplePaint.org.
Riya said “I had a great time teaching the students. It was very rewarding being able to see the students learn new subjects. What was even more rewarding was being able to help our community, especially during these difficult times. When we delivered the food and discovered how many people we were able to impact it was a very satisfying feeling.”
“Working with the Classes 4 A Cause team was a great experience. Everyone worked very hard and spent their own time to help others. On behalf of the Soup Kitchens, Food Pantries, and people we were able to impact I wanted to say a HUGE thank you to the entire team for helping out during these difficult times,” continued Riya.
Thakker said “Overall, my experience was really fun and unique. I was able to improve my Spanish and teaching ability, while sharing my knowledge, and was able to do all of this for a good cause. I just would like to thank PurplePaint, Riya, and her parents for giving me this wonderful opportunity.”
Anika said “I found myself very lucky to be able to be a part of Classes for a Cause and for gaining such a great experience from this initiative. I loved going to set up for my classes every Saturday morning, preparing to teach someone something new while making a difference for someone heavily impacted by Covid-19. It was so rewarding to start the session with a blank slate, and then see my students grow so much more knowledgeable in their subjects. I got to spend my time not only making a difference for my students and my community but also got to teach topics I loved. I had a great time being a part of the Classes for a Cause team and for being able to do something meaningful during this time.”
“I loved the experience! In the past, I have taught a few dance classes to kids in person. After teaching online dance classes, I became even more confident in my teaching and choreography skills. Online teaching was a completely new experience for me. Something that intrigued me was that you can teach anyone around the globe right from your own computer. I had so much fun getting to know my students and teaching them each choreography. They were focused, enthusiastic, and eager to learn. I could tell that they love dancing and music and I am so glad I was able to share that passion with them! Thanks to Riya for this opportunity to help my community during these COVID-19 times,” said Vanshika.
“I am a rising eighth-grader. Teaching this class was an amazing experience! It was fun sharing my interests with other kids who were also interested in the same. At the end of the session, it felt good to see that the kids learned something new and could now share it with others. Overall, I was really happy knowing that my students learned self-defense,” said Prisha.
Aarush said ‘I am a rising sophomore at Morris Hills High School. I had a great time teaching with Classes 4 a Cause, not only was I able to help out others during this time of crisis all over the world (through the direct tutoring and the money that goes to charity) I also gained some valuable experience about mentoring.”
“Overall, it was a truly fulfilling experience and I am really grateful for the opportunity to help my community. I was not only able to help people in our community who were being impacted by the coronavirus but also was able to share my knowledge with other children and help them utilize their time during the lockdown in a productive manner while enabling them to connect with their Indian roots by learning Hindi,” said Nehal.
“My overall experience went well, and I was happy to have students that wanted to learn from me and excited to learn chess,” said Prathamesh.
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Milap said “This was my first time teaching. It was good.” |
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Ria said “I had a great experience. It was fun to teach the kids and I also learned a lot. I learned how to keep engaged and focused. Over-all I had a great time working with Classes 4 A Cause.” |
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“Through Classes 4 a Cause, I gained some great experiences in teaching online. From the first day, there were so many extra challenges that I had to sort out because I was teaching remotely. It was a great experience overall, and I was able to achieve great satisfaction when I would see him make progress,” said Aarnav. |
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Malvika said, “Was amazing to be part of Classes 4 A Cause and contribute to the community in a small way.” |
