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A year ago if someone would have asked me to run a marathon, I would have laughed about it. There I was with a newly minted PhD, carefree and comfortable in my own niche. But then when Amol (my husband) and I started exploring the outdoors, went hiking, camping, long distance biking etc., we experienced a rush like never before. After each endeavor, the sense of achievement was exhilarating and each accomplishment just made us want to push ourselves further. So I decided that 2010 is going to be a year of action for me. I wanted to try my hand at things I had never done before. So far this year, we have done snow mobiling in the White Mountains, white water rafting and hiking up Mt. Katahdin in Maine and sky diving from 10,000 ft in northern Massachusetts and enjoyed every minute of it. But it all pales in comparison to my latest venture i.e. training and fund-raising for a marathon. Both these activities are completely out of my comfort zone.
I have registered to run the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC on October 31st. I have been training for this marathon with Team AIDAsha since April. Running is not something that comes naturally to me and I have had to slowly and steadily build up my endurance and strength. I still have another 2 months to go for the training and have started to enjoy running now. Training is hard and there are days when I just want to give up and go back to enjoying summer like everyone. But what keeps me going is that I am doing this for a cause, a cause that is very near and dear to my heart, a cause of raising money for making basic education accessible to the underprivileged in India. I have pledged to raise $100 for every mile that I will run. So for the full marathon, I have pledged to raise at least $2620 for a voluntary non-profit organization called ‘Asha for Education’
'Asha for Education' in collaboration with 'Association for India’s Development (AID)', another voluntary non-profit organization, are committed to promoting education, sustainable, equitable and just development in India, by working with grassroots organizations and movements in India. AID and Asha support and initiate efforts in various interconnected spheres such as education, livelihoods, natural resources, health, women's empowerment and social justice. Both organizations are completely volunteer-based, with zero overheads and full accountability, which ensures that all funds are directly used for core projects. Charity Navigator has awarded them with a 4-Star rating. Please visit www.aidindia.org or www.ashanet.org to learn more about the organizations.
Please help me in this effort of mine. Donations and wishes are welcome. To give you a sense of the power of your donations:
Please help me in this effort of mine. Donations and wishes are welcome. To give you a sense of the power of your donations:
• $1000 - Can build a school in rural village
• $500 – Can completely take care of a ten year old girl until she graduates from high school.
• $100 – Helps to educate hundred rural pregnant women on infant health
• $50 – Helps to buy books for entire village school
• $25 – Takes care of education and living of one child for one month
• $10- Takes care of education of one child for one month
• Wishes- help me run that extra mile.
You can donate by using credit cards and google checkout by clicking the link beside my photo. If you want to donate by check, please make it out to 'Asha for Education' and e-mail me at anjali.mandlik@gmail.com for mailing instructions.
If your company matches employee charitable donations, then you can increase the power of your donations. Do let me know if your company matches your donations. You can read below for more information. Asha is registered with the IRS as a 501(C)(3) tax-exempt organization and our federal Tax-ID number is 77-0459884.
Thank you so much for your contributions.
Regards,
Anjali
