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HOME OF HOPE HOLDS FOURTH ANNUAL FUNDRAISER.

BY RUPAL SHAH INDIA WEST STAFF REPORTER.

Home of Hope, Inc. held its fourth annual fundraiser Dec.9 in San Ramon, Calif. To help raise funds for the five orphanages in India it has helped to flourish and even get started.

Its main goal is to partner with individuals or organizations in India that are working to improve the lives of poor children all over the country. They raise funds to improve the living conditions and environment of orphaned and destitute children so that theyu can grow into productive and self sufficient adults.

This year's event raised $ 46,000 in donations and pledges, and Home of Hope recruited 10 new sponsorships of children, bringing their total sponsorships to 90.

Founded in 1999 by Dr. Nilima Sabharwal, Home of Hope, Inc. works with women who are dedicated to working with orphans in India at Children's Home of Hope. The U.S. chapter of the organization has no administrative overhead, is run by volunteers, and funded by private donations.

To date, they have five projects underway and actively recruit sponsors for their sponsorship program, which is $ 10 a month per child.

Their first project was the Chennai orphanage that houses 138 children, with Shanti Mathan as the project coordinator for this orphanage. Since last year, they have remodeled the bathrooms to eliminate gastrointestinal disease, built play-grounds, covered underground sewers and now have a medical clinic on site with immunization records for all 138 children. In the future, they are planning to build an 8,000 square foot structure as the old orphanage was found to be unsafe.

Dolly Dham is project coordinator for the Udayan Ghar orphanage in Delhi, which works with women in India to provide physical and psychological help for abused children. They receive basic and computer education, and have just purchased six new HP computers.

The other orphanages, Puttavirima Orphanage in Mysore, which works with deaf and mute children and Aath Mashri in Bangalore for the slum children of the city, are all receiving improvements in the way of facilities,education and nurturing.

Attendees of the event were treated to two dance performance, a Bharatnatayam performance by Sonia Sabharwal and Sheena Naidu of the Kala Vandana Dance School, and a traditional Bhangara dance was performed by several children.