Asha fund-raiser nets $130,000October 1, 2003 CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The local chapter of Asha for Education has just finished its sixth annual Work An Hour fund-raiser, but some members are off and running on the next project. The chapter, based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, raised $7,013 as part of the national Asha's Work An Hour drive. Asha as a whole exceeded its goal by a modest amount, raising more than $130,000 from 1,911 donors. That's a big step up from what Asha raised last year - $90,000. The idea of the fund-raiser is to get people to donate an hour's pay - or any other amount of money - to the charitable organization. Toward the end of this year's fund-raising drive, it looked as if Asha was going to fall short of its goal. Many people "stepped up" at that point, contacting more people and calling their friends, said Ravi Mundoli, coordinator for the Asha-MIT chapter. Now, nine members of the chapter are, with the help of a coach, training to run in a marathon, said Mundoli. The volunteers will run in one of three marathons set for Cape Cod, New York and Washington, D.C. "All of us are first-timers," said Mundoli, one of the runners. "Some of us ran in college or before that, and have been lounging around since." Mundoli said he first got involved with educational issues while attending the University of Massachusetts Amherst. There he helped out with the Connecticut-based group Volunteers in Service to Education in India. The U.S.-based Asha is a non-profit group dedicated to bringing socio-economic change to India by educating the underprivileged. The local chapter has been particularly interested in Asha's support for a Mumbai group that aids street children, he said. "The organization tries to give them schooling," he said. This year, money from Asha is slated to help set up a residential center for girls. Chapter member Mugdha Velankar has been overseeing that group, the Voluntary Organization in Community Enterprise, on Asha's behalf. This year, the Work An Hour money raised by Asha will also go to a group in Karnataka state that helps prostitutes, many of them just girls; the Gujarat-based National Association for the Blind; and a West Bengal group that helps street children. For information on Asha for Education, contact Ravi Mundoli at ravim_asha@yahoo.com or visit www.ashanet.org/mit.
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