What happened with the donations ?

I am back after a long while.

First off,

I want to make sure that anyone who donated for the efforts know what happened with thier money. Please note that this is an updated report for Jan-Dec 2005. The earlier report published on this blog was for the financial year 2004-05.

Here is our report from our newsletter :

Asha Austin Annual Report 2005

Asha Austin currently supports nine projects from different states across India and has seen a tremendous growth in all aspects over the past year. The chapter strength in terms of active volunteers has more than doubled and $61,520 was raised in 2005 alone. The marathon program ‘Strides Of Hope’ along with the long standing ‘Support A Child’ program has raised most of the funds for the chapter. The same year Asha Austin also set precedence with the ‘Support A Teacher’ program. The commitment of the volunteers has been instrumental in the success of these initiatives. The selfless work of our project partners that brings about changes in many communities in India has been our motivation.

Asha Austin supports development of infrastructure and recurring expenses of Asha Sikshan Sansthan, a school in Reoti village of Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh. We funded vocational training at Banyan, a home for mentally challenged destitute women in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The training is not only therapeutic but also provides an opportunity for them to work their way back into society. We supported the Bharatiya Jan Seva Ashram located in the village of Badalpur in the district of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh. The school aims to sustain free primary education, books and uniforms for underprivileged children. The school also hopes to generate an interest in children for higher education and to convince their parents to send them to school.

Asha Austin has been supporting Siddamma, a grassroots volunteer in India who works towards providing a life of dignity for the Irula Tribals. Her Bharathi Trust Resource Centre is supported by Asha Austin and her work with the communities includes freeing bonded laborers, organizing the communities into cooperatives and mainstreaming the children into the education system by providing motivational educational centers. Our chapter also approved funds for Gramin Shiksha Kendra which runs an alternative school in a village near Sawai Madhopur (Rajasthan) and provides meaningful and quality education to 100 children. The chapter supported the education and boarding of disadvantaged and orphaned girl children at Prasanna Jyothi, located in Bangalore, Karnataka.

We also raised funds to provide a permanent home for Seva Chakkara Samajam, an Orphanage in Chennai, Tamil Nadu that houses 99 children. Asha Austin supported Shristi Special Academy which provides structured intervention programs to children with mental retardation, autism or other intellectual impairment through the ‘Support A Teacher’ program.

Asha Austin supported building a laboratory at the school Raja Shivaji Vidyalaya, located at Sawantwadi, in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra. Asha Austin is currently discussing new proposals and we are looking for a more eventful 2006. We hope to reach out to more lives as we set upon a new year.

Funds Raised:
SAC (Support A Child) program, Marathon (Strides Of Hope), SAT (Support A Teacher) program, Matching/giving funds from companies, General donations contributed, donations towards Work an Hour (National fund raiser), sale of merchandise
Total: $61,520 (Includes funds raised for projects/efforts to be supported in 2006)
Funds Disbursed for projects in 2005:
Seva Chakkara Samajam $10,600.00
Bodh Shiksha Samithi (GSK) $6,131.87
Shristi Special Academy $3,600.00
Asha Sikshan Sansthan $3,100.00
Bharatiya Jan Seva Ashram $2,225.00
Prasanna Trust $4,200.00
The Banyan $1,400.00
Siddamma Fellowship $2,700
Raja Shivaji Vidyalaya $1,500.00
Miscellaneous* $3721
Total $39,177.87
* Funds disbursed for Credit card charges, merchandise, transfer of directed donations to WAH projects, Payment to rogue from registration fees collected from marathon runners etc.