‘Tera-Tera Hatti’ brings joy to the poor

Avneet Kaur
Jalandhar, January 16

‘Tera-Tera Hatti’, a charity shop which provides clothes, utensils among other household items to the poor at Rs 13 per piece, is proving a boon for people in the city who makes beelines at the shop during evening hours to purchase items such as clothes and footwear for themselves.

Started by a group of 13 friends, all businessmen by profession, the ‘Tera-Tera Hatti’ is being operated from a shop located at Harbans Nagar since December 16, 2018.

Tarvinder Singh, one of the 13 working members of the hatti said: “A price of Rs 13 had been fixed in view of a story from first Sikh Master Guru Nanak Dev, who used to help poor people.”

When asked from where they got the idea of starting a charity shop, Tarvinder said: “Being a proud member of the Mata Gujri Sewa Society, I often visit residents of my area and collect old clothes from them to donate to the needy. But one day, when I and my friends visited Bhag Singh, an elderly in our locality, he told us to be different.

“Bhag said this door-to-door collection of clothes and then donating it to the needy was a routine affair of NGOs and to reach a larger audience, we need to come up with unique idea,” he said.

Tarvinder said: “After thinking for days and discussing it with friends, we finally decided to start the shop, realising Guru Nanak’s message of helping the poor and needy.”

Another member Jaswinder Singh, who runs an auto deal business, said: “Though we have fixed the Rs 13 price, but people who even can’t afford this amount are welcome to take the things for free.”

He said our objective behind the shop was to serve the community and spread a message of oneness among one and all.

He said the money raised from the cause was being used for the medical treatment of the poor, schooling of needy children and for buying grocery to distribute it among domestic workers or elderly women as the space of the shop was given free of charge and the staff were volunteers.

Informing about duties of the volunteers, Jaswinder said: “We all working members have fixed two-hour duty in a day. We open the shop at 11 am and close it by 9 pm. After every two hour, one or the other volunteer comes for the service.”

Meanwhile, people were enjoying buying clothes and other items. On being asked, a domestic help worker, Reeta, said: “My children were really happy when they got to know about the shop. I have bought a pair of shoes for my son, a jacket for my daughter and a suit for myself.”