DARE has a registered shelter home under the Juvenile Justice act. We respond to the call from the Varanasi railway stations at any time of any day. We are constantly looking out for children in need to respond to their needs. When a child requires help, we bring the child to the DARE home while informing the authorities. We also get calls from Railway Protection Force (RPF), Government Reserve Police (GRP) and general public whenever a new child is found and needs temporary shelter and support. Once rescued, the child is given a secure place and a good atmosphere to stay until the family is found. The information about the child is given to the Child Welfare Committee within 24 hours as per the rule and we try our best to trace the family or the guardian of the child. As per the order from the CWC, the child is given protection with all the facilities and once the family is found, after completing the legal formalities, we hand over the child to the family or place him/her in a shelter home. Some of the eligible children are also accepted by DARE shelter home for education or skill training.

We have a Government Registered home known as DARE children’s Home. The strength of the children’s home is 25. At Present we have 24 children and all of them are below 10 years. All these children are given shelter with the order of Child welfare committee, Varanasi. Out of 24 children 21 of them are going to the best schools in the city. Molly Pezhathinkal (Sr. Manju SRA) is the in charge of these children. DARE provideschildren a pleasant and happy childhood and many opportunities to develop their skills and grow in their life. One of our girl has already become a nurse and is a staff nurse in Holy Family Hospital, Delhi and another one girl is doing her Second year of nursing studies at Nazareth Hospital School of Nursing.

One of the major Activities of DARE is the Non-Formal Education/Literacy classes (NFE) near to five Railway Stations in Varanasi. One is at Kharbujabasti near Varanasi Cantonment Railway Station, second is at TeliyanaPhatak near City Railway Station, third is at Sarnath Railway Station, fourth is at Kashi Railway Station and fifth is at Banaras Railway Station. These classes are attended daily for three to four hours by more than 250 children. We celebrate different events, feasts and festivals of our country with them. Since parents of these kids are illiterate, it is a big challenge for us to motivate them to send their kids daily to literacy centers. The main aim of these literacy classes is to create interest in kids to go to formal schools.

DARE organizes health camps at the railway station premises of Varanasi Cantonment, City, Kashi, Banaras and Sarnath providing medical help to the needy and vulnerable, especially children, with the help of a doctor and a trained nurse. Cases like TB, AIDS or serious health problems are followed up until the child gains good health. We conduct AIDS and TB test for the children, their parents and guardians. We also reach out to children who are sick or have suffered from an accident. In every camp, we constantly remind them the importance of health and hygiene and motivate them to take care of their health.

DARE celebrates important feasts and festivals like Independence day and Republic day of our country, Holi the feast of colour, Deepavali - The Festival of Lights, Eid , Christmas, DARE Foundation Day, Girl Child Day, Children’s Day, Anti Child Labour Day, Literacy Day, Anti Tobacco Day, Anti Drug Day, Anti Trafficking Day, Gandhi Jayanti, etc at the railway stations and at the DARE shelter home. We aim to help the children understand the importance of these days as well as to love the country and its people of different faiths and religions.

Children are helped to develop their talents in many fields like computer, dance, music etc. Every Saturday a music teacher comes to teach them music, tabla and harmonium. During summer vacation the children are taught Indian classical dance and music by professionals. Every Sunday they are given opportunity to learn popular dance and on every Saturday hymns and music. They are also given opportunity to learn fine arts and crafts, self defence and skill in reading and writing.

From all these five-literacy centers 120 children are attending the regular formal schooling and our staff help them for their home works when they get back from the school or before they go to schools. Most of them are admitted in private schools and DARE meets their expenses like, school fees, uniforms, School bags, stationaries etc. These children are also given opportunities to participate in all the celebrations of national and international days of importance especially for children, for example Girl child day, Anti-trafficking day, Environmental day, Anti-child labour day as well as major feasts and festivals of all the major religions.

DARE organizes parent’s meetings at DARE center and all other literacy centers. We motivate parents to send their children to literacy center and schools regularly. Awareness programs are conducted during these meetings on health and hygiene, importance of education, child rights etc.