Hello family and friends,
Howdy from Sugar Land, Texas.
I cannot imagine this year is almost over and we are just few days away from the new year. It has been a really different year for us than any other year. Especially because of our new dream journey on becoming small business owners. We will soon be opening our new bread store in Sugar land. Many of you might have aware of it already. It’s been a long and tough ride so far but we are almost there and hope to see our dream project come true soon. If you are interested to know more, you check us out at https://www.facebook.com/greatharvestbreadsugarlandtx. Hope everything is going well for you all and if I missed anything exciting, please don’t hesitate to share with me via facebook or any social media.
It’s December and it has become a ritual for me for almost decade now sending out this email to my friends and families about the annual holiday charitable giving campaign/fund-raiser. It is our Tenth year joining hands together as one family to make a difference in few under-privileged and orphaned kids back in India. Last year, we raised $3050 in total through all forms of payment crossing $3000 milestone which was equivalent to 1 Lakh, 85 thousands Indian Rupees (as per exchange rate at that time). Out of that funds, we used Rs.80000 to create one more endowment/fixed deposit account to sponsor one kid education forever. Now we have total 3 fixed deposit endowments in place and slowly getting closer towards my goal of having 10 endowments in few years. We used rest of the funds to sponsor 17 more kids, 11 kids we been sponsoring for long time and added 6 more new kids to our pool. In total, we are currently sponsoring 20 kids education. That’s an amazing job and I am really proud and happy about it. I hope you all feel the same way.
Below are some special pictures which they sent us few days ago wishing us new year and Thanking for our sponsorship. It made me feel really good and I couldn’t have done it alone without all of your help.
Sevalaya is a great active non-profit organization in TamilNadu, India. We will continue to sponsor the kids education this year as well through them. It is a great organization which not only educates hundreds of local village kids and orphans, also guides them to stand in their feet by placing them in qualified professions and help them start a new life by arranging weddings with a right partner. That’s totally unique and will never see in any organizations. Sevalaya continue to receive numerous awards every year for various accomplishments and their extraordinary support to the local community. You can learn more about them by checking out Students success stories, view some video about the organization and their media coverage here. Sevalaya kids continue to prove in their academic skill year and year again by giving 100% pass result in 10th and 12th grade public exams. I strongly urge you to check out Sevalaya’s annual report which has full details about last year activities.
Being a Sevalaya sponsors family, it is our unbound responsibility to continue to help those education hungry kids. It’s our 10th year, let’s try to make it special. Lets shoot to set another new milestone this year. I kindly request you all to open your heart and contribute graciously and continue the tradition of giving by making a difference in these kids life. Every dollar you contribute goes directly to help the kid’s education, no layer involved. Whether it is $10 or $100, there is no limit. A small help goes long way in making a big difference.
You can contribute in two ways easily,
a) Cash/Cheque – Make check payable to my name for amount less than $100 and send to my home address is 5818 Tarpon Bay Ct, Sugar Land, TX – 77479. If you are donating more than $100 and need a tax receipt, you can make the check payable to ASTI (AMERICAN SERVICE TO INDIA).
b) Credit card – Use Paypal account helpindia2007@yahoo.com. Only use this method if you cannot pay by check because there is a 7% commission charged by paypal from your donation since we don’t have US non-profit status yet.
Mother Theresa once said, “It’s not how much we give but how much love we put into giving”. It is not just the money it matters, it’s thought and love it matters as well. I am sure we all are grateful to have enough to lead happy life and we are thankful for it. Let’s also make little better by sharing little bit of what we have, and also welcome the New year in a good way by giving back to the world.
Please try to send your contributions before Jan 15, 2015 if possible. Please do forward to friends and spread the word around. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Thank you and Have a great Holiday Season!!!
Your friend,
Vijai
