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On 7 August 1999, Asha-Madison held an Open House in UW-Madison's Memorial Union, The Open House had two main aims:
The Open House succeeded in its twin objectives, and managed to raise some funds and recruit new volunteers as well. Below, we provide a short report of the Open House by Asha-Madison volunteer Kamalkumar Gursahani.
The Open House lasted for around two hours. It was attended by over 30 people. Indians associated with UW or living in Madison were invited. Murali Palangat, a research scientist at UW and a fellow Asha-Madison volunteer gave a lively fifteen minute presentation that covered the history, objectives, phiosophy and activities of Asha. The presentation was followed by a 15 minute video screening on Swanirwar, a project in West Bengal which is currently being supported by Asha-Madison. Both the presentation and the video were well received by the attendees. This was shown in the stimulating question & answer session that followed. The attendees were eager to know more about Asha projects viz. formal education versus non-formal education, sources of funds and ways to increase them. There were suggestions to raise funds via Internet advertisements, community gatherings, corporate firms. The Open House witnessed an amazing amount of enthusiasm among the attendees to donate money and volunteer their efforts for Asha. Over $200 in donations were raised on the spot! Murali Ranganathan and Arun Kumar were just some of our new-found volunteers. Since then we have witnessed a steady rise in donations, volunteers and level of interest shown by the friends of Asha. The trust in our work and the solidarity expressed by our well-wishers has boosted the confidence of our volunteers. The Open House helped Asha-Madison to establish stronger links with the Indian community living in Madison. Gauging from the success of this Open House, an information session of a similar kind is planned for the near future.
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