RUNNING FOR A CAUSE

Asha for Education is a non-profit organization with the mission of supporting education of underprivileged children. A few reasons why I decided to support this wonderful cause and organization (after much scrutiny and research): 
  1. Education for under-privileged kids: Education and a safe environment are extremely important in any child's welfare and well being. There are millions of children in India who are forced into manual labor or are separated from their homes and living on the streets/railway stations. Each one can have an alternate future where they can thrive and grow and contribute to the future if they are given the opportunity to learn, get educated and break out of this vicious cycle. This organization supports and works with multiple NGO's in India to make sure these kids get that opportunity. 
  2. Asha for Education is a 100% volunteer driven program: They don't have any employees. These are folks I work with or who work in many other companies in the Bay Area and even across multiple other cities in the US. They just take the time outside of their regular work and put in all this extra work, analyzing proposals, managing the website, finances etc. It's basically all 100% pure volunteer work done by folks just like you or me, without any political or religious affiliations. 
  3. Transparency:  
  • All the funds raised are put towards actual use to support multiple projects. This org scored a 100/100 on Charity Navigator
  • You can look at the status of each supported org at ashanet.org/projects/ and not only will it list how much money has been sent to each project but you'll also find complete records of all expenses, proposals reports and reviews done by the volunteers before committing to any of these projects. 
  • Lastly, the way the projects are selected is in the most Democratic way possible - Voting. Projects are proposed and lots of work goes into putting together presentations and several discussions before volunteers vote on the projects they want to add to the list that they can support.  

HOW YOU CAN HELP!

Your donations will go a long way to help under-privileged kids in India and helping give them hope and a bright future. There are a few ways you can help:
  1. Donate to Asha directly on my runner's page  - https://ta.ashanet.org/siliconvalley/marathon/runnernet/public.php?2018TASVR1027
  2. Donate via Company Donation/Match: You can donate through your company donation portal and if they have a "Match" program, you can multiple your impact by matching your donation! You can donate to "Asha for Education" / "Asha for Education, Silicon Valley" and add a note to your donation with my runner ID "2018TASVR1027" 
100% of all funds will go towards the cause directly and not a dime towards anything to do with the run. 

And lastly, THANK YOU! Every little bit counts and is very much appreciated!
UPDATE - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

​My journey towards a full marathon started on 4/3/2018 with a 1 mile run. On 7/29/2018, I ran my first every 26.2 miles and it was as memorable as it gets. 

4 months and 300+ miles of running later, I was able to finish my first full marathon!