alan hopper, realtor ®® - asha for education's...

Asha for Education Dallas Chapter

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Alan Hopper, REALTORAlan Hopper, REALTORAlan Hopper, REALTORAlan Hopper, REALTOR®®®®

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Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

-Margaret Mead

Asha for Education is a global non-profit organization whose mission is to catalyze socio-

economic change in India through the education of underprivileged children. We are registered as a 501(c)(3) organization in the United States (EIN # 77-045 9884). The organization currently has more than 66 chapters including in the US, UK, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany and In-dia. Since its inception in 1991 at University of California- Berkeley, Asha for Education has sup-ported more than 400 education related projects in India. A team of committed volunteers

from all walks of life including students, professionals and homemakers make up our organization. Asha’s volunteers work with partner grassroots organizations to help them create opportunities and provide resources necessary to ensure that education reaches each and every disadvantaged child. Asha also strives to raise awareness about other related issues like environmental and ecological awareness, the Right to Education, the Right to Information and the Right to Food guaranteed by the Constitution of India to every one of its citi-zens. Asha in the US has been recognized as a 4 star overall and a top rated charity in the area of interna-tional relief and development. We are very proud to receive that recognition from Charity Navigator, Amer-ica’s largest independent charity evaluator for three years in a row. With administrative and fundraising ex-penses amounting to less than 2% of donations, we maintain extremely low overheads and ensure that the maxi-mum funds are utilized to support our projects. The Dallas chapter was started in 1997 and over the years has supported more than 15 projects. The chapter has a dynamic group of volunteers comprised of full-time professionals and students. Our chapter works with Austin, Houston, Purdue, Flint and Cincinnati chapters among others to collaborate on certain common pro-jects in India. We organize several events to raise funds for our projects and conduct several awareness activi-ties during the major Indian events in the Dallas area. We depend completely on our generous donors to help support our projects while keeping our administrative costs to a minimum.

We would like to express our gratitude to Tara Energy one of the largest sponsors of community events in the North Texas area and our biggest Sponsor.

We extend our gratitude to Eknazar.com our exclusive Internet partner and FunAsia our exclusive Radio partner.

We thank Taj Grocers in Irving, Govindji’s Jewellers, EcoDallas, Pasand Restaurant, Alpha Graphics, His and Hers creative and Texas Instruments Inc. for their help and support.

We thank Mr. Pramod Shah, Ms. Kal-pana Fruitwala, Mr. Paul Pandian, Ms. Shabnam Modgil, Mr. Narendar Babu and Mr. Prasad Thotakura for their support.

We also thank all the individuals and businesses who have placed their message in this booklet for their contin-ued patronage.

We are, as always, indebted to our generous donors like you, without whose support our work is not possible.

-Asha Volunteers

How You can Get InvolvedHow You can Get InvolvedHow You can Get InvolvedHow You can Get InvolvedHow You can Get InvolvedHow You can Get InvolvedHow You can Get InvolvedHow You can Get Involved

YOU & AshaYOU & AshaYOU & AshaYOU & Asha

PublicizePublicizePublicizePublicize

Support a Support a Support a Support a

ProjectProjectProjectProject VolunteerVolunteerVolunteerVolunteer

Support a Child Support a Child Support a Child Support a Child

Participate Participate Participate Participate in Eventsin Eventsin Eventsin Events

Marathon ProgramMarathon ProgramMarathon ProgramMarathon Program

Buy MerchandiseBuy MerchandiseBuy MerchandiseBuy Merchandise

Work an HourWork an HourWork an HourWork an Hour


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Sikshana Gangotri - Kolar District

Supporting holistic development of mar-ginalized people through innovative rep-

licable models.

Gram Vikas Trust - Bharuch Dist.

Preventing child labor and exploitation by promoting Balwadi education in the

drought prone areas of Narmada.

To Reach You. Chennai

A shelter home for children rescued

from trafficking.

Haritha Ecological Inst. -Khammam

Scaling educational methodology of using

everyday activities through digital media.

Jabala Organization. Kolkata

Empowering children in the poorest slums to meet everyday challenges

through education.

Sankalp - Gurgaon

Mobile classrooms to provide education

to the city’s slum dwellers.

Prerana Shishu Vidyalaya –Kanpur

Quality education to economically weaker and socially backward sections of

the society.

SAve Children SAve Society

(SACSAS) - Bishunpur District

Education opportunities for the disadvan-

taged tribal children in Manipur.

Asha Dallas Projects

Shoshit Seva Sangh –Patna

Empowering the Musahar community, the weakest section living in sub-human

conditions.


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Shoshith Seva Sangh.

A free residential school for the Musahar community.

Currently housing 120 children from 8-10 villages.

Asha Dallas support for 2008: $6500.

Current need: $25,000

Shikshana Gangotri.

An integrated model of education, healthcare and livelihood for the SC/ST population.

Partnering with public schools and government organizations.

Asha Dallas/Flint support for 2008: $10,000


Gram Vikas Trust.

Promoting Balwadi education to prevent child labor and exploitation.

Supporting the construction of Lakhigam Balwadi

Sponsoring the education of 30 children.

Asha Dallas support for 2008: $10,000

Current need: $10,000 and $20/child/month

Sankalp.

Supporting educational expenses of children of migratory workers in urban slums.

Mobile school to bring education to the children’s doorsteps.

Asha Dallas support for 2008: $6,330.


Prerana Shishu Vidyalaya.

Modern technology meets basic education in the rural areas of Uttar Pradesh.

Using TV/DVD approach to bring quality education into the classrooms.

Asha Dallas support for 2008: $2,700.

Current need: $3000

To Reach You (TRY).

Empowering needy children including those rescued from trafficking.

Construction of a permanent shelter to house the children.

Asha Dallas support: $10,000.

Current need: $6,500.

To read about all our projects, please visit http://www.ashanet.org/dallas/projects


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• Comprehensive MATH TUTORING Center (Near Legacy/Coit in Plano)

• Small class sizes for personalized attention and focus on details

• Emphasis on Math Concepts & Applications (KG – 11th grades)

• Builds self-confidence, regular work habits and love for Math

• Exponential growth primarily through word of mouth in the last 6 years

About the Teacher

• Triple Master’s Degrees from top American Universities

• Recipient of numerous best teacher awards; several years work experience

• Awarded university gold medals for scholastic achievement as well as Math

• Call Mallika at (972) 208-1297 for free consultation and enrollment


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Asha’s Community Inititatives Asha for Education’s respect for diversity is not only reflected in the composition of our volunteers, but also on the type of events we organize and the initiatives we support. We recently held a “clothes do-nation drive” collecting used clothes, shoes and other household items and donating them at “The Bridge” a new shelter that opened for the homeless people in Down-

town Dallas.

Asha Dallas volunteers also participated in the 5K run organized by the UNICEF chapter at the University of Texas at Arlington supporting their effort to raise funds for the underprivileged kids

around the world suffering with AIDS.

The Dallas Chapter has also initiated a kids chapter consisting of high school and mid-dle school students in the Dallas community. The idea behind the initiative was to in-volve the younger generation in community activities and to instill in them a sense of social responsibility. Please read more about this effort on Page 17. Every year, Asha

volunteers participate in the Independence Day celebrations in a spirit of patriotism at Anand Bazaar. The occasion is also used to raise awareness about our projects and chapter activities. Visitors to the event enthusiastically buy Indian flags hand-made by

volunteers, to help our chapter raise funds for covering our administrative expenses.

NEW THIS YEAR - Going green for LOL

The effects of human activity on the world are increasingly visible, with human caused pollution affecting human, plant and animal welfare, the natural environment and global

climate. The consequences of such action are frightening and already visible. Asha is an organiza-tion committed to improving the lives of the disadvantaged in India. Unfortunately, these same people around the world are often the worst affected by pollution or cli-mate change. Therefore, we at Asha think that it is imperative for us to promote and encourage projects that are sustainable not just financially, but environmentally and ecologically as well. We fully realize that this must translate into our own actions. As a small step towards this, we are striving to make our own projects and events as “green” as possible, leaving behind only a tiny carbon footprint. Laugh Out Loud is the

first event of Asha Dallas where we are going as green as possible.

All the delicious snacks sold at the event are packaged and sold in fully compost-able and recyclable plates, cups and boxes and even spoons and forks. These are made and sponsored by a Dallas based company, Eco Dallas (www.ecodallas.com), who manufacture and sell these items at a very affordable and reasonable cost. Even though these are extremely durable, they are made off sugarcane bagasse or corn/potato starch, which, unlike polystyrene/plastic, do not damage the environ-ment. In addition, we are not going to serve soda or water in bottles or cans. Cans and bottles are a huge strain on the environment, and while recycling them is good, not using them is better. Instead, we are going old-school, and will be sell-ing/serving some cool and refreshing home made lemon-ade. Finally, we have paper recycling bins right by the door, so PLEASE recycle all paper flyers or tickets that you have, and drop them in the paper recycle bins/boxes. We’ll drop

them off at the recycling center.

If you are trying to ‘Go Green’ yourself, just remember the 3R mantra: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Going green is not difficult at all, and it is easy to recycle paper and plastic at home, and using resources like Eco Dallas for your next

party supplies.

Feel free to write to us at [email protected] with your

thoughts, suggestions or for more information.


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Strides of Hope “Strides of Hope” is a program that gives the chance to discover not only the magical benefits of running but also the supreme joy of affecting the life of a child with every stride. Irrespective of the age or gender of an indi-

vidual, this program provides an opportunity to better not only the lives of thousands of children but also their own. The six-month training program combines running and cross-training with social activities and a lot of fun. The program features coaches from profes-sional running clubs such as Dallas Running Club (DRC) and/or Run On. They train the runners at all levels, from beginners to experienced runners to suc-cessfully finish either a half or a full marathon. Asha runners who have previously completed the program act as mentors or buddies to the new runners building a team spirit.

Since 2000, the program has seen more than 750 run-ners from different walks of life, referred to as “Team

Asha”, successfully completed a full or a half marathon. Many have made running, a permanent part of their life-style. Some others have moved on to other bigger challenges like ultra marathons, triathlons and Ironmans.

Team Asha, Dallas made its debut in 2007 with 14 runners successfully participating and completing the Whiterock races. The team raised more than $20,000 to support Asha Dallas projects. The team was also fea-tured in the Dallas Morning News sports section as “Charity based team hopes to turn Whiterock into Green”. The program currently has about 30 runners training to run a half or a full marathon. Runners would be target-ing either the DRC Half on November 2nd or ‘The Rock’ on December 14th. More runners are expected to join the team. Some of the profiles of the runners can be found on the website http://www.teamasha.org. Please write to [email protected] for any queries about this program.


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216 W Campbell Rd

Richardson TX 75080

Phone: 214-575-2100

Fax: 214-575-2106

Lunch: Monday-Friday 11:00-02:30

Saturday-Sunday 11:30-02:30

Dinner: Sunday-Thursday 05:30-10:00

Sunday (Dinner Buffet only)

Friday-Saturday 05:30-10:30


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“Never too young to volunteer” Immensely inspired by our Arizona chapter, we approached and encouraged a group of middle school and high

school kids [and their parents] in the Dallas area to see if we could interest them with some of our work. We wanted to see if we could help them appre-ciate better, why some of their parents volunteer and donate to Asha for Edu-cation’s cause. We organized an information session presenting to them what we do here in Dallas, in the US and how we are trying to affect a change in In-dia. Information was presented by the chapter coordinators to the kids and parents who had assembled at the Liberty Recreation Center in Plano in June 2008.

We were pleasantly surprised to see them quickly grasp the essence of Asha for Educa-

tion’s work in the US and other countries and enthusiastically embraced the idea of volunteering for the chapter in Dallas. Volunteering, however, was not new to many of them as they were already closely involved in local tutoring efforts and volunteering for other community and school projects. With a

“never too young to volunteer” attitude, they formed a ‘Kid’s chapter’ consisting of 12th graders all the way down to 5th graders. They planned to spend a major part of their summer break to kick start the chapter hence becoming its founding members.

With complete freedom to decide their plan of action, the group met several times at the Center, closely supervised by volunteers from the main chapter. After multiple focused but fun-filled sessions, they identified that children

in many parts of India are not imparted basic hygiene and healthy habits that could help them avoid disease and other illnesses. They decided to produce a video skit illustrating some basic hygiene and everyday healthy habits that would help the kids stay more healthy than before. They also decided to act in the skit themselves.

With logistical and technical support from the main chapter volunteers, they came up with the entire script for the video. After multiple sessions for editing the script and converging on a location to shoot, the footage was filmed in two sessions. Clint Hayes and Carol Hayes of “His & Hers Creative” kindly offered their services at a subsidized cost due to our non-profit status and their appre-ciation towards our cause. You can see their message on the previous page. The volunteers of the kids chapter have planned to make the DVD relevant to the conditions and language in India and send it to some of the projects that we support.

The kick-off of the student/kids chapter in 2008 has been nothing but a great success. We anticipate the ‘kids’ chapter to grow as more school students are showing a keen inter-est to volunteer to help their disadvantage peers in India. Current plans include becoming a old style pen-pal to kids in our projects. If you are interested in learning more about this effort, please do not hesitate to contact our chapter co-

ordinators at [email protected].


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Fort Worth 6308, Hulen Bend Blvd

Fort Worth, TX. 76138

Ph (817) 263 7156

Plano 4152, Spring Creek Parkway

At Coit, SW Corner, Suite 139

Ph (972) 867 6002

Also visit online at

www.maharajadfw.com


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Asha Dallas Annual FundraiserAsha Dallas Annual Fundraiser

A fun filled exciting night of Magic, Hypnosis, Humor and Hope

This event is a unique ensemble showcasing talents of adults & children pri-marily of the Indian origin within the local community. Artwork of volun-

teers from Asha Dallas Kids and the main chapter are featured. Handicrafts

made by children from the projects supported by Asha are also displayed.

To keep the carbon footprint of the event small, this event is completely

"Green". Food/beverages sold at the event are packaged and sold in fully compostable and recyclable plates, cups and boxes including spoons and

forks. This event is a great platform for featuring local talent and for

spreading knowledge about Indian culture and awareness in general.

Featuring one of the Best Stage Hypnotists & Magicians of South west Dr. H

And famous stand up comedians

Paul Varghese

and

Raj Sharma

Exclusive internet partnerExclusive internet partner

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