As India celebrates the little master's double ton, here's a way for each one of us to do a good deed in honour of this amazing achievment. Apnalaya, Sachin's favourite charity, will take 200 underprivileged children on a 2 day outdoor camp to Khandala during the summer vacation. All it takes is a donation of Rs.850 to send 1 child to the camp! Apnalaya runs a number of programmes for some of the most deprived children in Mumbai who live in the communities surrounding the garbage dumping ground in Govandi, Chembur. Support Sachin and support these children now by making a small contribution with a big impact!
Vinayak Lohani of Parivaar Education Society in West Bengal sent us an update on what has been happening at their organisation. Here's what he writes:
"The work on the Girls' campus land, which has been going on since January 2009, has made significant progress. Some main buildings - big residential block for 250 girls, 3-storyed education complex for after-school tutorship program, Dining Hall, Computer Hall and Library block have also come up. Construction of some smaller ancillary buildings is going on which is expected to be over by June 2010.
In the week of December 25, 2009 to January 1, 2010, we had a four day Athletic Meet at Parivaar. It started at 8am on December 25 with a torch-run in which a huge group of Parivaar children and elders ran through the Barkalikapur village onto Bakhrahat Road and returned t
o light the lamp which, like last year, was lit by our most loved elder
Seva-vratee Pulakda (Shri Pulak Banerjee). Pulakda then declared the Meet open.For four days through out the day after 9am (except a 2 hour break for lunch in the afternoon) to 5pm there were a large number of events for each age-group of children (both boys and girls). In all there were about more than 110 different competitions. There were competitions for elder Seva-vratees/volunteers too. The Meet ended with a closing torch-run on the evening of January 1, 2010 at 7pm where again the run was done through the whole village.
On January 12, 2010 (Swami Vivekananda's Birthday) in addition to inspiring readings, talks, and songs, we screened a major play - stalwart
theatre personality Late Habib Tanvir's 'Charandas Chor', which we adapted from original Chhattisgarhi into Bengali. The play was two hours in duration and involved a crew of 35 performers, with 9 songs. A lot of ancillary creativite pursuits were also built around the event like set designs, poster designs, lights and sound arrangements, make-up and dresses etc, all done by Parivaar-ites, making the event an exercise very rich in creativity.The play was performed for the second time in front of huge village audiences in Bakhrahat on 22nd January. The play will be taken to many other venues in the near future."
GiveIndia would like to thank Parivaar for keeping us abreast of all the latest news. We encourage our NGOs to share this type of information with us so that we can pass it on to our friends and donors.
GiveIndia disbursed nearly Rs65lac to 190 of our partner NGOs in January 2010 compared to Rs40lac to 123 NGOs in January 2009. The top NGOs receiving funds are
Sevalaya
Child Aid Foundation
Association for Rural Development and Action Research (ARDAR)
Kidpower India
Society of Friends of the Sassoon Hospitals (SOFOSH)
Catalysts For Social Action
Operation ASHA
Association for Sustainable Community Development (ASSCOD)
Mobile Creches for Working Mothers' Children
Sahara
96 NGOs received funds and 63 of those received between Rs25,000 to Rs100,000.
GiveIndia is delighted to share the news that our Chairman, Mr Narayan Vaghul received the Padma Bhushan and our Director, Ms Anu Aga received the Padma Shri award on Jan 26 this year.
Padma Awards, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri are given for exceptional and distinguished service in any field including service rendered by Government servants. The recommendations for Padma Awards are received from the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations, Central Ministries/Departments, Institutions of Excellence, etc. which are considered by an Awards Committee. On the basis of the recommendations of the Awards Committee, and after approval of the Home Minister, Prime Minister and President, the Padma Awards are announced on the eve of the Republic Day.
Our congratulations to them both along with best wishes for continued success.
GiveIndia's recent partnership with Deutsche Bank was featured in the Indian Express. We have copied the article below:
Helping Hand
by Kavitha Srinivasa
BANGALORE: Deutsche Bank and GiveIndia Foundation, a philanthropy platform, have come together to customise charitable causes for high net worth individual (HNI) clients of the bank. The concept was launched in January and right now, relationship managers from the bank are in the process of familiarising clients with the programme.
“This is the first time in India that a bank has created social participation opportunities to its high net worth clients.
Our clients can choose the cause they would like to associate with, monitor their donations and get regular updates on the status of the project,” says Pankaj Narain, Director and Head, Private Clients, Banking and Investments, India, Deutsche Bank.
There are pre-designed and customised participation options. Around 200 NGOs from various parts of India are affiliated to GiveIndia. These were chosen from 4,000 NGOs, which were screened on norms of credibility and transparency. The 200 NGOs represent 10 categories like child welfare, education, women welfare, healthcare, environment, youth livelihood and care for disabled, among others. “As it was felt that social returns on investments are as important as financial returns, we partnered with a bank in the private banking client space. We provide an NGO database for their clients,” says Ujwal Thakar, CEO, GiveIndia Foundation.
The proposal seems rightly timed.
Nicholas D Kristoff, a columnist at the New York Times, has written this inspiring article about a family who decided to give back in a big way. Read on:
What Could You Live Without?
It all began with a stop at a red light.
Kevin Salwen, a writer and entrepreneur in Atlanta, was driving his 14-year-old daughter, Hannah, back from a sleepover in 2006. While waiting at a traffic light, they saw a black Mercedes coupe on one side and a homeless man begging for food on the other.
“Dad, if that man had a less nice car, that man there could have a meal,” Hannah protested. The light changed and they drove on, but Hannah was too young to be reasonable. She pestered her parents about inequity, insisting that she wanted to do something.
“What do you want to do?” her mom responded. “Sell our house?”
Warning! Never suggest a grand gesture to an idealistic teenager. Hannah seized upon the idea of selling the luxurious family home and donating half the proceeds to charity, while using the other half to buy a more modest replacement home.
Eventually, that’s what the family did. The project — crazy, impetuous and utterly inspiring — is chronicled in a book by father and daughter scheduled to be published next month: “The Power of Half.” It’s a book that, frankly, I’d be nervous about leaving around where my own teenage kids might find it. An impressionable child reads this, and the next thing you know your whole family is out on the street.
At a time of enormous needs in Haiti and elsewhere, when so many Americans are trying to help Haitians by sending everything from text messages to shoes, the Salwens offer an example of a family that came together to make a difference — for themselves as much as the people they were trying to help. In a column a week ago, I described neurological evidence from brain scans that altruism lights up parts of the brain normally associated with more primal gratifications such as food and sex. The Salwens’ experience confirms the selfish pleasures of selflessness.
Mr. Salwen and his wife, Joan, had always assumed that their kids would be better off in a bigger house. But after they downsized, there was much less space to retreat to, so the family members spent more time around each other. A smaller house unexpectedly turned out to be a more family-friendly house.
“We essentially traded stuff for togetherness and connectedness,” Mr. Salwen told me, adding, “I can’t figure out why everybody wouldn’t want that deal.”
“Dad, if that man had a less nice car, that man there could have a meal,” Hannah protested. The light changed and they drove on, but Hannah was too young to be reasonable. She pestered her parents about inequity, insisting that she wanted to do something.
“What do you want to do?” her mom responded. “Sell our house?”
Warning! Never suggest a grand gesture to an idealistic teenager. Hannah seized upon the idea of selling the luxurious family home and donating half the proceeds to charity, while using the other half to buy a more modest replacement home.
Eventually, that’s what the family did. The project — crazy, impetuous and utterly inspiring — is chronicled in a book by father and daughter scheduled to be published next month: “The Power of Half.” It’s a book that, frankly, I’d be nervous about leaving around where my own teenage kids might find it. An impressionable child reads this, and the next thing you know your whole family is out on the street.
At a time of enormous needs in Haiti and elsewhere, when so many Americans are trying to help Haitians by sending everything from text messages to shoes, the Salwens offer an example of a family that came together to make a difference — for themselves as much as the people they were trying to help. In a column a week ago, I described neurological evidence from brain scans that altruism lights up parts of the brain normally associated with more primal gratifications such as food and sex. The Salwens’ experience confirms the selfish pleasures of selflessness.
Mr. Salwen and his wife, Joan, had always assumed that their kids would be better off in a bigger house. But after they downsized, there was much less space to retreat to, so the family members spent more time around each other. A smaller house unexpectedly turned out to be a more family-friendly house.
“We essentially traded stuff for togetherness and connectedness,” Mr. Salwen told me, adding, “I can’t figure out why everybody wouldn’t want that deal.”
One reason for that togetherness was the complex process of deciding how to spend the money. The Salwens researched causes and charities, finally settling on the Hunger Project, a New York City-based international development organization that has a good record of tackling global poverty.
The Salwens pledged $800,000 to sponsor health, microfinancing, food and other programs for about 40 villages in Ghana. They traveled to Ghana with a Hunger Project executive, John Coonrod, who is an inspiration in his own right. Over the years, he and his wife donated so much back from their modest aid-worker salaries that they were among the top Hunger Project donors in New York.
The Salwens’ initiative hasn’t gone entirely smoothly. Hannah promptly won over her parents, but her younger brother, Joe, was (reassuringly) a red-blooded American boy to whom it wasn’t intuitively obvious that life would improve by moving into a smaller house and giving money to poor people. Outvoted and outmaneuvered, Joe gamely went along.
The Salwens also are troubled that some people are reacting negatively to their project, seeing them as sanctimonious showoffs. Or that people are protesting giving to Ghana when there are so many needy Americans.
Still, they have inspired some converts. The people who sold the Salwens their new home were so impressed that they committed $100,000 to the project. And one of Hannah’s closest friends, Blaise, pledged half of her baby-sitting savings to an environmental charity.
In writing the book, the Salwens say, the aim wasn’t actually to get people to sell their houses. They realize that few people are quite that nutty. Rather, the aim was to encourage people to step off the treadmill of accumulation, to define themselves by what they give as well as by what they possess.
“No one expects anyone to sell a house,” said Hannah, now a high school junior who hopes to become a nurse. “That’s kind of a ridiculous thing to do. For us, the house was just something we could live without. It was too big for us. Everyone has too much of something, whether it’s time, talent or treasure. Everyone does have their own half, you just have to find it.”
As for Kevin Salwen, he’s delighted by what has unfolded since that encounter at the red light.
“This is the most self-interested thing we have ever done,” he said. “I’m thrilled that we can help others. I’m blown away by how much it has helped us.”
Here is a photo of the family:
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