• Sulagna Mukherjee, 19, of Behala, suffers from a rare skin disease affecting the lungs. She needs more than Rs 1 lakh a year for treatment. Besides, every three months, she has to be taken to Vellore for a check-up. Sulagna’s father doesn’t earn enough.

• Ratan Das, a taxi driver of Thakurpukur, requires an urgent kidney transplant. Cost: Rs 3 lakh-plus. The family’s income has dropped to Rs 300 a month.

• Divine Smile, a school for the mentally-handicapped, cannot function for want of space.

The hope of assistance has taken all three to Barisha Shakti Sangha, a local club in Behala.

The club is organising camps in front of a dozen schools where guardians of Madhyamik examinees can wait for their wards.

The three applications for help have driven the club to organise a lottery, to be held on May 1 at Sarat Sadan, in Behala.

Club secretary Tarun Kumar Mukherjee explained that the members do not have the capacity to make such a large donation themselves. So, the lottery plan.

“Guardians at our Madhyamik camps offered financial help to our club. Instead, we requested them to buy our lottery tickets. The response has been overwhelming.The money we collect will be distributed to the three applicants. We know it won’t cover their costs, but at least it’s a beginning,” Mukherjee said.