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Home of Hope Event Raises $100K for Destitute Children
INDIA WEST November 18, 2005

By a Staff Reporter
SAN JOSE, Calif. - First, early in the evening, Nilima Sabharwal cried. Then, several hours later, at the end of the evening, she was all smiles. Sabharwal, the main driving force behind the Home of Hope organization, became very emotional during her opening remarks at the 8th annual gala fundraising event, held Nov. 11 at the Scottish Rite Center here.

Speaking to a capacity crowd of more than 700 guests in the huge ballroom, Sabharwal began to recount the plight of several distraught mothers and their children whom she encountered during her recent trip to India.

She choked with emotion not once but several times during her speech as she spoke about the plight of the children orphaned by the tsunami disaster.

"I visited one two-bedroom home in South India where almost 100 orphaned children were living under very cramped conditions. They were literally sleeping on top of each other on the floor," Sabharwal said, choking back tears. "What wrong did they do to deserve this?" She also described instances wherein mothers who had no means of feeding their children were simply abandoning them by the wayside.

The emotion-filled speech had its effect. Many in the audience were moved. Pledges began coming in. By the end of the program, when the committee members tallied all of the collections from corporate donors, individual pledges, proceeds from raffled items and the revenue generated from the $65-per-head admission, the total had reached an impressive $100,000.

Treasurer Anil Lal had urged that the total collection should at least meet or beat last year's figure of $85,000. The news of the new fundraising record brought smiles to Sabharwal's face. Home of Hope was launched as a non-profit organization almost nine years ago by Sabharwal, a Kaiser doctor, and some of her close friends, with the primary goal of helping underprivileged children in India.

HOH raises funds in the U.S. through individual donations and via its annual fundraising events. The funds are used to improve the lives of orphaned, abandoned or otherwise underprivileged children in India.

HOH creates lasting partnerships with existing organizations in India that have similar goals. Each year HOH adopts new projects there.

The latest one to be adopted by the organization is the Akola School for Blind Children. Local resident Nivisha Shah gave a brief overview of the school - a message that was substantially enhanced by a video documentary shown that evening. HOH has raised more than $600,000 to date and has been successful in bringing hope and joy to over 1,500 children.

Besides a sumptuous dinner catered by Chutney Restaurant of San Francisco, guests were also treated to a fashion show, dance performances, live songs by local performers including Vikas Singh and Minnie Shukla, and finally, dancing to Indi-pop music provided by a D.J. Models provided by Indiva Productions first displayed a vibrant line of clothing by famous designer Satya Paul provided by Rupakshi Kapur, and in the second segment, displayed the fashions of Anu Mahal of Basic Instincts.

Three delightful dance performances were provided by a group of young dancers who call themselves "Hrithyms" (mis-spelling intentional). Their rendition of the old fifties song, "Mera Naam Chin Chin Choo," made famous by the gyrations of Helen, was particularly enjoyed by the audience. Sabharwal was appreciative of the energetic team of volunteers from the College of San Mateo who helped throughout the evening.

Readers wishing to send contributions can mail their checks to Home of Hope, Inc., 190 Tobin Clark Drive, Hillsborough, CA 94010, Tel: 650-574-0374, or log on to www.hohinc.org.