If any one of you have noticed the logo - Work An Hour - alongside my posts on my blog in the last few days and wondered what it is all about, here are some more details.
Work An Hour is Asha's largest worldwide event to raise funds for needy children. Asha is a volunteer-driven, non-profit organization, whose mission is to catalyze socioeconomic change in India through the education of underprivileged children. All those who work with Asha believe that education is a critical catalyst for socio-economic change. Asha volunteers collaborate with several non-governmental and governmental organizations in India to empower individuals and provide them with access to education, health care, equal opportunity, social justice etc.
Work An Hour, or WAH as it is popularly known, is Asha's largest worldwide event to raise awareness and funds for the various projects Asha supports in different parts of India. Asha's project partners chosen for WAH support typically require large sums of money in order to facilitate fixed expenditure on items such as infrastructure, construction and other one-time costs.
As part of WAH initiative, Asha asks you to symbolically contribute one hour of your time towards the cause of children's education by donating an hour's worth of your salary or more. The event symbolically begins on July 4, the American Independence Day, reaches an apex on August 15, the Indian Independence Day, and finally culminates on September 5, which is celebrated as Teachers' Day in India.
Often in any fund-raising effort questions are raised about the organization's commitment as well as right use of the money that is donated. I have been personally involved in Asha's efforts for a while now and this is what I can say. This is truly a volunteer-driven organization with almost nil overhead expenses. Almost all the money donated is used towards the projects and the volunteers ensure that the proposed benefits actually reach the children. WAH projects are chosen based on a set of guidelines and are closely monitored.
An hour of your worktime could really mean hope for a lifetime to someone out there. Please do the needful, and please spread the word.
If you need any further information please do not hesitate to send me a mail.
2 comments:
Will put it up on my blog very soon.
[shruthi] Thanks a lot Shurthi. Really appreciate it.
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