Bhubaneswar, Sept. 30: Around 1,000 students from various colleges across the state have come together to spread the joy of giving for this year's Daan Utsav to be held between October 2 and 8.

A series of activities have been lined up as part of the initiative. The volunteers have tied up with various organisations to conduct various events and activities at their respective institutes.

Students from across the country launched the Daan Utsav, earlier known as the Joy of Giving Week, in 2009. During the weeklong programme, people from various walks of life, including students, corporate houses and voluntary organisations, come together to conduct events to promote the act of giving.

The students of Utkal University this year will collect food items such as cereals, pulses, spices, noodles, biscuits and chocolates from various departments and faculty members of the varsity and the items will be distributed among various special schools in the city.

"This is for the first time that the students of our university will be a part of the initiative and we are eagerly looking forward to it. We will try to collect as much food items as possible so that a large number of children are benefited," said Subrat Nayak, a volunteer from the varsity.

A similar initiative will be taken up by students of Silicon Institute of Technology.

KIIT University students, however, have come up with an interesting plan to contribute to the festival. They have scheduled a Potluck Day when traditional craftsmen of Odisha will be designing small pots, which will then be sold among the public for a small amount. The collected amount will be then used to treat the craftsmen with a sumptuous dinner.

In another unique initiative, the volunteers will visit schools and ask the students to write letters addressed to army officers posted at the borders. Around 5,000 such letters will be sent.

The youngsters will set up 100 Daan booths at 100 schools and colleges in the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. Students will be urged to drop study materials and stationary items such as pen, pencil and paper in the booths, which will be thereby distributed among underprivileged children across the state.

"We try to introduce new events every year. We are focusing on participation of college students this year as they can mobilise their peers in doing the same. The act of giving can be anything from a small donation to a charity, a gift for someone less fortunate, a donated meal or a couple of hours spent volunteering for a cause. The happiness it brings is incomparable," said Anurag Shukla, national fellow heading Daan Utsav in Odisha.