What is Work An Hour?
Welcome
to Work An Hour 2002, the fifth edition of Asha's
largest worldwide event. Each
year during the time of India's Independence day,
volunteers from around the world come together
in a show of great human spirit, to help educate
the underprivileged children in India.
Work
An Hour or WAH, as it is popularly known, is a
simple concept. We ask you to symbolically contribute
one hour of your time towards the cause of children's
education by donating an hour's worth of your
salary or more.
All the money raised
goes to carefully selected projects in India.
The projects are chosen based
on a set
of guidelines. A WAH projects working group
thoroughly studies the candidates and narrows
the field to about 10 to 15 potential projects.
Asha-wide review is sought in which Asha volunteers
everywhere, discuss the candidates and eventually
rank them. The top 5 or 6 projects get selected
for WAH funding.
Like
all Asha projects, they are closely monitored
by Asha project co-ordinators to ensure that the
funds are being properly utilized and the proposed
benefits are actually being realised by the children
at the project.
To
learn more about the selected projects, please
visit the WAH 2002 Projects
page. To get right in and participate in WAH 2002,
donate
now .
History
of Work An Hour
Work
An Hour '01 raised over $100,000
for some really unique projects. These
include a residential tribal school in
Kerala, establishing centers to prevent
child labour in slums of Bangalore and
helping out in vocational training for
disabled and handicapped children in
Maharashtra.
Work
An Hour '00 brought education to the doorsteps
of the Irula tribes in Tamilnadu. It helped reach
out to the street children of Mumbai through the
efforts of VOICE. Part of the $86,000 raised helped
start children's education centers in Dalit villages
and kickstart a micro-credit program aimed at
revitalizing development in rural areas.
Work
An Hour '99 generated awareness about the
problems of child laborers near Calcutta, the
blind, deaf-mute and orphan children in Anandvan,
orphan girls from Tenkasi and the most oppressed
sections of the society in Banda. Over $50,000
were raised to improve the condition of the children
in these projects.
Work
An Hour '98 was the first online fundraising
event for the underprivileged children in India.
The success of this event laid the foundation
of Asha Ashrams in Lalpur and Kanpur. It also
brought high-quality support services to kids
suffering from multiple disabilities including
Polio, Blindness, Speech and Hearing impairments,
Epilepsy, Mental Retardation, Autism and Cerebral
Palsy. With the $30,000 raised in this event,
the Asha Ashrams brought new ways of creating
self-sufficient educational institutions, while
ASTHA brought new hope to handicapped children
in the slums of Delhi.
Financials
In 1998, Work an Hour raised
$31,000 and in 1999 the amount raised
was close to $54,000. Work an Hour
2000 raised close to $84,000. Last
year the event raised $102,000 .
In
2002, the target is $100,000.
In
keeping with Asha's charter, 100% of proceeds
go directly to the projects supported. Administrative
expenses are borne entirely by Asha volunteers.
For more fiscal details, visit the Financial
Details page.
For
more information about Work An Hour or Asha, email
us at wah@ashanet.org.
Thank you for joining the efforts and contributing
to the success.
The
Asha Family
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