A First Father's Day for Many: Celebrating Blind, Leprosy-Affected and Differently-Abled Fathers in Hyderabad

"Today, we celebrated Father's Day with blind, leprosy-affected, differently-abled and vulnerable fathers. It was a heartwarming occasion filled with joy, love, and appreciation. For the first time, many of these fathers came together to celebrate this special day."

On Sunday, June 21, 2026 — World Father's Day — Smile With Shine Welfare Society hosted a celebration that, for many of the fathers in the room, was something they had never experienced before: their own Father's Day. The celebration was put together for blind fathers, leprosy-affected fathers, differently-abled fathers and other vulnerable fathers from across Hyderabad — men whose lives don't usually intersect with the commercial, family-with-purchasing-power version of Father's Day, and who almost never sit in a room together to be honoured as fathers.

Cake was cut. Snacks were shared. Caps were placed on heads. New shirts were handed over. And underneath all of it was something simpler: a chance for each of these fathers to be seen, named and appreciated, in public, on a day that is meant for exactly that.

Who Came — And Why It Was a First

The fathers we celebrated that morning came from four overlapping populations that we work with year-round, through different interventions:

• Blind fathers — men living with visual impairment, served by our visual-impairment welfare work. For most of them, Father's Day arrives every year, and passes every year, with no visible marker beyond the calendar.
• Leprosy-affected fathers — men from the leprosy community we serve. These are fathers who, even decades after recovery, still live with social distance — rarely invited to public celebrations, rarely photographed, rarely sat down with cake.
• Differently-abled fathers — men with mobility impairments, long-term conditions, and other disabilities. Many of them depend on someone else to leave the house, which means they rarely attend events about them.
• Vulnerable fathers — men in fragile circumstances: low income, broken family ties, fragile health, or simply alone.

For a meaningful number of the fathers in the room, this was the first time they had gathered specifically to celebrate Father's Day. Not the first time someone had wished them. The first time they had walked into a room set up for them, with their name on the chair.

The Cake, the Snacks, the Caps, the Shirts

What we shared was deliberately simple, and deliberately festive. Not a charity hand-out. A celebration.

• Cake — cut at the start, photographed, and shared with every father. For several of the blind fathers, having a piece of cake placed into their hand on Father's Day was, in the smallest and most direct way, the celebration they had never had.
• Snacks — warm, simple, shared at the seats so the elderly and the differently-abled didn't have to stand in a queue.
• Caps — gifted as a small marker of being part of the day. A cap is one of those small objects that doesn't pretend to be more than it is — and that is exactly why it works.
• Shirts — a brand-new shirt for each father, handed over personally as a token of respect and gratitude for their strength, sacrifice and unconditional love.

The Hand-Over — One Father at a Time

We have a small rule for our welfare events: one person at a time, hand-to-hand, eye-to-eye. No queue is formed. No stack of shirts is pushed across a table. Each father came up — or was helped up, in the case of the visually impaired and the differently-abled — was greeted by Founder Smt. Grace Mani, General Secretary Sri Gangarapu Satyapal, and the rest of the senior team, received his cap and shirt, exchanged a few words, and was photographed if he wanted to be.

Several of the fathers in the room had not been the subject of a photograph in years. For some of the leprosy-affected fathers in particular, a celebratory portrait on Father's Day is not just rare — it is a quiet act of restoration. We took our time. Nobody was rushed.

The Elderly and the Visually Impaired — The Quietest Part of the Room

The most affecting part of any of our welfare events is the elderly and visually impaired section. We make it a point at this event to walk to each father personally rather than have them walk to us. Some came on the arms of a volunteer. Some came on their own slowly, refusing all help. Every one of them got a chair, a glass of water, a piece of cake placed directly into their hands, and somebody sitting next to them for as long as they wanted to talk.

The visual impairment, disability inclusion and leprosy welfare work that Smile With Shine does year-round — running across our 12 interventions — is what makes an event like this feel like a continuation, not a one-time visit. The fathers in those sections knew our team. Our team knew them by name.

Blessings, Not Thanks

One thing we learned over years of running events like this: do not expect thanks — expect blessings. The fathers we serve don't say "thank you" the way a corporate audience might. They place a hand on your head. They smile small smiles, fold their hands, and say dīrgha āyushyam — long life. They put on the new cap, hold the new shirt against their chest, and walk out a little straighter than they walked in.

Those are the moments that don't fit on a donation receipt. They are also, quietly, why this work continues.

The Team On the Ground

The same core team that has anchored every recent intervention was there: Founder Smt. Grace Mani (recently honoured with the Bharatiya Seva Ratna National Award), General Secretary Sri Gangarapu Satyapal, Treasurer Sri Lazarus, Advisor Smt. Mary, and the wider volunteer team who quietly handled setup, the cake, the snacks, the photo-handling, packing of shirts, and helping the visually impaired and differently abled to and from chairs. Like every event we run, the same people who plan it on paper are the people who serve it on the ground.

Thank You to Every Supporter

This celebration was made possible by donors and well-wishers who funded the cake, the snacks, the caps and the shirts — quietly, without conditions, and without asking for the spotlight. To everyone who contributed: the smiles in this room, the blessings in the air, and the small but real shift in how those fathers felt about themselves yesterday — that was your contribution. Thank you.

The Update Sent to Supporters

As with every event, a short update went out to our supporters. Reproduced below as written on the day — first in Telugu (for our Hyderabad readers), then in English.

English summary (as shared on the day)

Why This Event Lives Inside a Bigger Story

This Father's Day celebration is not a one-off festival photo opportunity. It is the visible, dated version of work the organisation does every week of the year. The blind fathers in the room are the same population we serve through our visual-impairment work. The leprosy-affected fathers are the same fathers we visit through our leprosy welfare work. The differently-abled fathers are part of our disability inclusion work. The vulnerable fathers overlap with our elderly welfare and homeless welfare interventions.

We organise public-facing events like this one because they convert quiet, year-round dignity into a moment that people can see, photograph and remember. But the photograph is not the work. The work happens on the days nobody photographs.

How You Can Sponsor the Next Welfare Event

Every cake slice, every cap, every shirt at this event was funded by donors and supporters of our work. If you would like the next event to honour more fathers, more mothers, more elderly individuals, or more children — here is the cleanest way to make that happen. All amounts are published openly on our Monthly Programmes page.

How to give — UPI or bank

GPay / PhonePe to +91 73960 96830 or +91 70937 37459. Or visit the donate page for QR codes and bank details.

Tax benefit

"Contributions of ₹500 and above will get a receipt, where you can claim income tax returns." — Donate page

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• Founder Smt. Grace Mani Honoured with the Bharatiya Seva Ratna National Award
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