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Vinithra Varadharajan |
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Click the "Donate" button to donate using credit card. You will be redirected to the secure AID credit card processing page.
If you would like to donate by check, make the check payable to "AID" and hand it over to Vinithra. |
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Welcome and thanks for stopping by! As you may know, I ran the Chicago marathon on Oct 12 this year! I completed the race in 5:36:37!
Just by visiting this page you're serving one of the purposes of my run - raising awareness about development issues in India. I would like to draw your attention to some projects developed to address illiteracy and socio-economic problems in India by two charity organizations, Asha for Education and Association for India's Development (AID). These projects are mobilized by teams of people who are doing more than empathizing with the poor and the needy - they are acting to empower and improve the lives of the 300 million people below the poverty line in India. Initiatives include:
* Setting up of schools to shelter and educate speech and hearing impaired kids from poor, rural backgrounds,
* Providing shelters for children rescued from trafficking,
* Providing flood relief in the form of mobile health camps and safe drinking water,
* Empowering agricultural laborers to protect their land rights,
The second goal of my marathon is to raise at least $100 for every mile of the marathon towards Asha and AID projects. The great thing about these volunteer-run organizations is that 95-98% of all donations go straight to the projects. In fact, both charities have been given the highest rating by Charity Navigator.
Training and running for a marathon is the toughest physical challenge that I've ever taken on. While I've maintained an active life for the past six years, the weekly runs and bike rides four times during the week combined with the weekend run of increasing mileage is placing my active life at a whole new level. I took up running about two years ago and started by not being able to run for two minutes without stopping. By the time I moved to Boston last year, I had worked my way up to run for any reasonable length of time. So when I heard that Asha and AID were starting their summer marathon training in April, I jumped at the opportunity to train really hard for a really good cause. Over the past six months I have had to train my mind as well as my body to complete those 26.2 miles on October 12.
Here's some information about the kind of impact that YOU can make through a donation:
$25 - Educates and provides for living expenses of one child for one month
$50 - Helps a rural household gain access to electricity and drinking water
$100 - Educates hundred rural pregnant women on infant health
$500 - Can completely provide for a ten year old child until he/she graduates from high school.
I do hope that you will reflect on what you've read here and that you help me go beyond my fund-raising goal of $2,620. Once again, thanks for stopping by and thank you for your donation!
P.S.: The 'Donate' button will take you to a page for donations to AID. This is for administrative simplicity. All donations will be evenly split between the two charities. |
Corporate matching:Your company may match your donation to charitable organizations like AID. AID is registered with the IRS as a 501(C)(3) tax-exempt organization and our federal Tax-ID number is 04-3652609. Please let Vinithra know if your company matches your donations. Click here for more information.
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