About Asha

Asha for Education is a secular,all-volunteer worldwide non-profit organization dedicated to provide basic education to underprivileged children in india, with the belief that education is a critical requisite for socio-economic change. Asha for Education, Central NJ chapter was started in 2000 by a diverse group of professionals and students. The chapter has since then supported over 25 projects in India. The chapter this year supports 8 deserving projects in various parts of India, addressing a range of issues including but not limited to education, development and health-care. With this focus, our volunteers are involved with and support various projects that are secular and have an education-related component to them. The objectives of this group are:

Provide education to underprivileged children in India.
Promote awareness in the local community about the social issues in India.
Raise volunteers and other resources to achieve the group objectives.
Provide opportunities to those living outside India who wish to contribute.
Support the local community through volunteer involvement and collaboration with local non-profit organizations.

Activities:

Clearly, identifying, researching, owning, funding, and sustaining projects has formed the core of Asha's activities till now. Asha raises funds for its projects in a number of ways: individual donations, corporate donations, sale of merchandise (T-shirts, calendars, mugs, greeting cards, etc.), fundraising dinners, Indian classical music and dance concerts, popular music concerts and many others. In the process, we also promote Indian culture over here.

In This Section:

Objectives

Activities

Asha History

In the summer of 1991, a few students including V.J.P.Srivatsavoy, D. Gupta, and S. Pandey got together to think of ways in which they could play a role in the development of India, the country of their origin. These young people shared the belief that education is a critical requisite and an effective catalyst for social and economic change in India. Basic education became the agenda for the action group that emerged from this gathering. The group was named Asha to represent the hope that had brought these individuals together and the hope that they aimed to bring into the lives of children in India. In that summer of 1991, Asha was born at the University of California in Berkeley.