6:30 - 7:30 pm;
319A Union South
Attendees: Charu, Harit, Kamal, Manoj, Murali (P), Neeraj, Pravin,
           Subbu, Utthara, Venky;
           Vinai, Lasya (SAIVA)

Project update:
---------------
- Kamal presented a short summary of what the project group has been doing.

Summary:
- Reviewed 11 different projects:
- One project has been taken up and completely funded by Berkeley & St.Louis.
- One project proposal from Bihar needs to be followed up.  The people
   in charge do not have access to email or phone.  It appears that this
   seems to be even more reason to accord this project top priority and
   follow up.   Need to write letters.
- Other than that, 3 are in the pipeline.
   IGSDEI, Kolhapur:
      Venky (Ganti) is currently in India and will be visiting the project.
      We are considering supporting either the creche or the primary school. 
   SERVE, Udaipur, Rajasthan:
      They seem to have raised some funds from local people and also have
      received some funds from some German orgn.  The project is slated to
      be started from Jan 2000.
   GIRD, Manipur:
      Awaiting a site visit report from Mahesh.  [ Mahesh works with 
      Sandeep Pandey at Lucknow.  Previously, he has done a number of
      site visits for Asha.  He tends to be thorough, albeit a little harsh
      at times. ]
- Manoj will be putting up information about these on the website.
- There are some more new proposals that have come up on Ashawide that
   need to be reviewed.
- The proposal by Balaji also needs to be taken up in one of the project
   group meetings.
- Murali has received an annual report from Swanirvar.

Asha Stars: Summary
-------------------
- There are people interested who are willing to make annual contributions
   to Asha.  We need to follow up with them and try to get them personally
   involved in the project.  In the long run, such personal involvement can
   help sustain funding for projects.
- To start off the process, Neeraj is working on putting together an
   information packet to give to potential Asha Stars.  He'll be working
   with the projects group and others to identify a candidate project.

Fundraising
-----------
- This year, we have disbursed $3K and have another $1K committed to
   Little Stars' School.
- The remaining funds can be used to start new projects.
- We are now getting to a position where projects will outstrip funds.
   Need to set some fundraising goal next year.  The fundraising group
   will work on this.

Immediate future plans
----------------------
- Work on preparing an Asha Stars packet ready.
- Try to get done with the project proposals that are in the pipeline.

Visit by Dr.Madhukar Deshpande
------------------------------
- Dr. Madhukar Deshpande is in the US and will be visiting Madison.  There
   was a choice of Tuesday and Friday.
- It was decided to have him over on Friday since most people preferred that
   date over a weekday.

Interaction with SAIVA
----------------------
- Vinai and Lasya discussed possibilities of interacting closely with Asha
   since their volunteers would like to participate directly in projects in
   India.
- Dr.Madhukar Deshpande's visit was mentioned as a good opportunity for
   discussing this.
- Murali mentioned the possibility of visiting Swanirvar.  He'll get in touch
   with the Swanirvar folks about this.
- Vinai and Lasya mentioned the possibility of them raising funds for projects
   that volunteers would visit.