"Ekal On" in Northern California (October - December 2006) - Details courtesy Reena Rao
(
reenarao@pacbell.net)
Northern California has been teeming with activities organized by the Ekal team there. All this has been possible due to a committed & hardworking team who reach out to the masses, and continued & dedicated support of advisory board members - like Sucheta Kapuria & Bipin Shah- who have contributed invaluable time, effort and funds for the cause. A brief summary of the main events from October through December is presented here -
December A private fundraiser was organized by Mr Bipin Shah (core adv board member) at his beautiful Atherton home. Several new donors were introduced to Ekal during this event. The wonderful & fun evening with karaoke and delicious Gujarati food raised funds for 71 schools ($25,915) raising Northern California's funds to 400 plus schools for 2006.
November An Ekal volunteer get-together was organized which was attended by 60 members of the Ekal team (spouses included). Ekal team members showcased their talents through song and humor and the lively event brought in a tremendous energy into Northern California's Ekal movement.
A panel discussion on Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation was organized by Reena Shah, student at University of San Francisco. This was attended by around 40 students and panelists consisting of two professors, one economist and an Ekal team member. The event was quite informative and interesting with the professors showing interest in conducting research on our organization. Funds for 2 schools ( $730) were raised from the students.
October Northern California Ekal Volunteers ran for literacy in the Silicon Valley Marathon on Oct 29, 2006, to raise funds for sponsoring schools in rural and tribal India. The eight 26 mile marathoners, ten half marathoners, and several 5K runners, raised approx $23,000 including company matching donations. The committee & the runners trained and solicited funds diligently over a period of six months, participating in the San Francisco Marathon as an intermediate goal. This is the second year of Ekal participation in this event. Ekal volunteers also managed an aid station during the marathon, providing encouragement and vital refreshments to all the runners for 5 hours. For more info please visit
www.ekalmarathon.org.
Ekal Board Meeting, Delhi (16th December 2006)
The Ekal Board meeting was held in the newly constructed hall in the EVFI office. The hall was inaugurated by Shri B.K. Modi. Shri Brahma Ratna Agarwal congratulated the EVFI President, Secretary and other office bearers on their successful efforts towards having the new hall.
The Board Meeting was attended by 20 members and many important topics discussed. Among these the emphasis on "total development" of villages, progress towards ISO certification, emphasis on "Empowerment Education" and inputs and updates from EVFUSA through the three distinguished members present in the Board meeting.
Ekal Visit to Mettupalayam, Tamil Nadu (3rd December 2006)
The
Friends of
Tribal
Society, Coimbatore organized a Vanyatra to Kodiyur village in Mettupalayam (Tamil Nadu). Leading the Vanyatra were Sri Gopal Maheswary (President, FTS Coimbatore) and Sri Mohan Sankar (Secy, FTS Coimbatore). The traditional welcome of the villagers touched the hearts of the Vanyatris. The interaction with the Karyakartas who selflessly devote their lives to this noble and patriotic cause inspired the Vanyatris, and the interaction with the tribal children forged a deep bond between the "city dwellers" and their "tribal brethren". As a symbol of these replenished ties between the children of Bharat, old and new, the Vanyatris distributed gifts to the children. See images -
Ekal mission meets
A charitable screening of the movie "Babul" was held at Mumbai's Inox theatre this month. A brief introductory movie on the Ekal Mission together with Smt. Hema Malini's inspiring appeal at the Raipur meet (reported in previous Ekal News) were screened prior to the screening of the feature film. Due to diligent efforts of Smt Nayantara Jain, Smt Namita Pandya, Jitu Bhai and Shri Dilip Mehta, the event was a stupendous success and apart from the monetary profits earned, helped spread the word about our Ekal Mission to a new audience.
Ekal updates - Ekal Vidyalaya
Current: Number of Ekal Schools:
20,142 Number of Children:
604,260
Ekal participation in Mumbai Marathon
The forthcoming
MUMBAI MARATHON is scheduled for Sunday
21st January 2007. So far we have received sponsorship from eight corporates and expect around 300 Ekal volunteers to be amongst the "marathoners"!
You will all agree that there are many amongst us who have the desire and energy to participate in this run. We will run for the Ekal movement, we will run to increase awareness about our tribal brethren, we will run for our literacy programs - “we thought this would be a great way to show our strength to those who haven't heard about us and show to the world the strength of Ekal Movement“
For details please contact
ftsmumbai@vsnl.netvarshasethi@sethigroupindia.com
Training camp at Ooty NATC (18th - 25th November 2006)
A week long training camp was organized at the Ooty NATC. During this, Swami (Dr.) Thanmaya of Narayana Gurukulam addressed the participants. On completion of the training first aid kits were handed out to the thirty arogya sevikas. See images below -
