Goodbye to Paper!
Goodbye to Paper!
Curating the world artfully
Our first 10 rag picker women and their families inaugurate their carts!
Our first 10 rag picker women and their families inaugurate their carts!
How we began
Goodbye to Paper began with a small group of women who made their money through rag-picking and begging. Slowly, things are really changing...
Philosophy
Goodbye to Paper aims not just to provide street women with much-needed income, but also to instill a sense of pride, confidence and creativity in their lives.
Our Work
Through this program, women that are mostly completely uneducated learn a variety of skills, from lamp making and table making in initial stages, to eventually developing their own businesses through microfinance funding.
Get in touch
Would you like to be a mentor for a woman building her own small business to lift herself out of poverty? Or would you like to provide the much needed funds? We'd love to hear from you!
What's News in March?
On Wednesday 27th February 2013, the first 10 Goodbye to Paper women inaugurated the carts they will use to start fruit and vegetable businesses, tiffin and tea stalls and ironing stalls in Vellore Fort. It was a wonderful and very emotional day, with well wishers attending from across the Vellore community to wish these women the very best in their endeavours and to pledge support to help them make their projects a success!
We were delighted to host 2 Sub Inspectors from the Vellore Women's police station, who promised to help ensure the women's security as they went about their daily business, whilst doctors from CMC promised to ensure that the women and their families received affordable healthcare. The bank manager of the IOB bank in Gandhi Nagar that so kindly helped the women set up accounts despite many challenges came to support the women, whilst business owners from major centres in Vellore stepped up to advise and mentor the women beginning their journeys as entrepreneurs! And old friends of the group- the pastor from St John's church, Usha Jesudasan and Mrs Jean came to say a few words of support and kindness to the group on this exciting day.
Mrs Usha Jesudsan from Amalas restaurant kindly ran a workshop for the women in making bread-omelettes on the previous day, and had wise words to offer at the inauguration about profit maximisation and some rules for business in the catering industry.
We would like to say thank you to all those who attended the inauguration to make our Goodbye to Paper women feel so special and supported!