”Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”
– Dr. Nelson Mandela.
We flagged off this year’s activities by supporting Hope Foundation and Vidyarambam Trust.
Hope Foundation runs an English medium school in the Kannagi Nagar slum area near OMR, Chennai. The area predominantly consists of people from the fishing community. The school operates Classes I through IV and does not collect fees from students. We contributed INR. 1,50,000 towards operational expenses, most of which was spent on salaries for staff and building maintenance. Our sum was matched by Isha Homes Foundation.
We had mentioned in our previous news letter about Vidyarambam Trust. This trust has been very successful in teaching English as a language in many centers in Tamil Nadu. Vidyarambam employs Easy Learning English, a home grown teaching methodology using phonics. Vidyarambam picks 10th and 12th grade graduates and intensively trains them to become tutors. For the first time, they are entering the Chennai area and we supported them to the tune of INR. 3,44,000. Out of the three schools supported by us, kids who scored above 60% increased from 17% to 48%, 28% to 42% and 53% to 68% between the diagnostic and final tests. We are pleased with the progress and we intend to continue to partner with Vidyarambam.
We continue our support for Santosh Charity, a home for about 30 destitute children in Bangalore. We have agreed to support 6 of these children by matching a donation of INR.1,80,000 (@ INR. 30,000per child per year) made by 3 other donors. We make quarterly payments to support them.
Our support for scholarships at the Ganapathy Iyer Girls' School in Gopalapuram, Chennai continues for a total of INR. 2,50,000. Our contribution helped 100 deserving students with a set of uniform and shoes, notebooks and government & PTA fees.
As part of our IGNITEPolytechnic and degree scholarship program, INR 8,27,000 was distributed among 85 economically backward students from Government and Government aided schools to support their college education for Degree & Diploma courses. Many thanks to our donors and supporters who make this program possible. Three of our past beneficiaries –Arulanandam, Vinodini and Rajkumar have now become donors for this program.
OPEN is supporting an after-school program conducted by Pudiyador at Carriappa School in Chennai. We have contributed towards their operational expenses. We are currently evaluating a proposal from them for full sponsorship.
IGNITE Counselling
OPEN conducted its 7th fundraising music concert in Virginia this May. The concert was a success, both in terms of raising awareness of the activities we and our partners do and in raising the critical funds to run our operations. Thanks to Rasika, the music ensemble whose performance brought a lot of smiles to adults and kids alike. We are even more grateful to the volunteers who spent many hours getting sponsors, planning, organizing and conducting the event. Mr. Ranganathan, Founder & President of Vidyarambam attended the event and his interview during a break was very emotional for quite a few in the audience.
As we continue another year of important activity in educating the under-privileged kids in India, we look forward to hearing from you for your generous donations and ideas, especially in monitoring programs like after-school activities. We are confident that, with your support and the support of the individuals who work tirelessly in the fields, we will do well.
We also want to mention that proposals from various existing and new partners keep coming in. We evaluate each program on its own merits and decide whether or not to take it up.
HOPE School Students
We regret to inform that we ended our program with one of our partners Suyam Charitable Trust. Our last contribution was for the month of March, 2013
OPEN Needs You
OPEN has been registered as a non-profit charitable foundation in India and the U.S. Contributions in both countries are tax-deductible. As always, our ability to fund these projects depends on your generosity. We request that tax-deductible contributions payable to OPEN Inc. be sent to Kumar or Rajesh at:
Kumar Thiagarajan, 25470 Gimbel Dr, South Riding, VA 20547
Rajesh Ramadoss, 38 Ocean St, Millburn, NJ 07041
If you would like your contribution to go towards the Educate a Child program, please mention it in your check memo section.
Tax-deductible contributions may be sent to Sriram or Arvind in India in favor of OPEN India Charitable Trust: