Skip to main content

Lotus Petal Fund Raising Appeal



Short story...this is a fundraising request for Lotus Petal Foundation.   Lotus Petal is a grass root organization involved in educating Gurgaon slum kids.  Education bridges the gap to a world of possibilities, a world of big dreams and your help goes a long way.

In that regard, I am doing a marathon a month and raising 50k USD for Lotus petal.  Asking for your support. Click donate button above to contribute.

(If you work for Cisco systems, please match your donation 1:1 via Cisco foundation by clicking above Cisco Matching button).


15$ = You support a kid get education for a month

180$ = You support a kid get education for an entire year!  What a difference that year will make in his life.




Want the long story?  Continue reading for my original post on it.

--- All this started with simple facebook update! 

A life long friend posted a call to donate to Lotus Petal Foundation on Facebook.  Just to make sure money was going to the right cause, I went to their website for a quick peek.   

Their story and work was inspiring and as I was due to visit India a month later I decided to see them in person. 

 A bit of history, Lotus Petal Foundation was started by Kushal (his journey here), and caters to slum kids of Gurgaon, providing them education and taking care of necessities like food and supplies.   What Kushal started in 2011 with a small place and 7 kids, has turned into a 3 storied school (with library, and a playing field, a kitchen and science labs..) that hosts 215 kids!  2017 registrations just ended (Feb) and count is at whopping 300 now!


With Lotus Petal kids (Jr sections)

Having been associated with Asha ([1], [2]) since 2002, I have had privilege of knowing noble souls who come together year after year to help the underprivileged.   Education (or rather learning) is close to my heart and what best way than to join hands with folks who have committed their life for it.

The school trip was an exhilarating experience.  It was an extremely humbling experience to watch first hand founder's commitment towards these kids.  Day in day out, they are there, taking one 'more' step to make the eco system a little better than previous day.  There is a batch of volunteers who help with physical education, regular personal hygiene and well-checks. 

 Result - a place that feels like home, a library for the school-without-walls feeling, a playground that gives a fresh-breathable-open-air-space to just be yourself, a kitchen where teachers/students eat together, science labs, computer labs showing hand-made models and science-experiments etc.). The extremely confident-calm-determined look of these kids tell you that their efforts are producing results!
School kids (higher grades)
My wife and kids joined me for the school visit and as soon as we got back in uber for drive home, the first thing we started discussing was how can we get involved more. Being remote, helping with day-to-day will be hard (that said, it's encouraging to see that my nephew who lives in Gurgaon wants to volunteer at the school in Summer 2017), but can we connect the like minded people back home with this cause? 

Knowing how you all have been with me in my journey in various causes, I felt I could reach out to you again - this year specifically for Lotus Petal. 

 So my action plan is :
  • Spread the word about Lotus petal and let more like minded people be aware of the good work going there. 
  • Reach out to your generous self and have you donate to this work of service
  • And perhaps encourage some of you who are local in gurgaon area to volunteer there ?
and
  • Stretch the possibilities and pick something beyond me as a target to raise fund for.
I have been fortunate to have found the joy of running and consider myself very lucky to be able to continue to do it despite the daily asks of life. 

A marathon-a-month came to mind! 

May be because if I raise stakes even higher, perhaps I can request more of your generosity...have you dig a little deeper in your heart and pocket?  or may be in making it really hard for myself, perhaps I could feel a little of what adversity looks like for all these kids?  

Please join me in this journey.  

Need your positive healthy vibes and blessings.

How can you contribute:

Literacy and awakening to one's own potential is the best gift we can give to next generation.  And to impart that to the underprivileged, is nature working through you to create a more prosperous, harmonious world.  

We were all blessed to be educated.  Can we help these slum kids dream big ? 

My target is to raise 50,000 USD for lotus petal for 2017.  The math works out to be 15$ per kid for 12 months for 300 kids. 

Here's how you can donate:
  1. Donate by clicking this link or   
  2. You will get an email receipt for tax-exemption (see picture on side).

Matching your donation via your employer (and simple instructions if you work for Cisco Systems):

Does your company match funds for charities?  Please enquire.
  1. My employer Cisco Systems is one the best places when it comes to community giving.
    Cisco foundation matches employee donations 1:1.   Lotus Petal is a registered charity in Cisco’s community giving page.  If you are a Cisco employee, please follow below simple steps to match your donation.
    The Cisco matching process is less than a minute job.
    • First donate using this link 
    • Then go to Cisco Community Giving page reserved for lotus petal
    • Click “Request a Match”  (see picture on side)
    • Fill information on Donation date and and Match amount ( (see picture on side)
    • Put “ARUN SHARMA” in the “Designation”
    • Click on “Update me on my transaction by email” and I agree to "Cisco Foundation Matching Gifts Policy”.
    You are done!

2. Please spread the word on Lotus Petal.  Consider volunteering with Lotus Petal if you are local in Gurgaon area.

3. For those who want non credit card options, please read below

In the payment gateway on our website , the payment can be done from Bank Account using Netbanking option.

For those who would like to transfer money from their bank accounts or deposit cash in our account the details are as below. For such transactions they need to inform us as we cannot get the name /email id to send the receipts etc. 


Account Name : Lotus Petal Charitable Foundation 
Account No : 3411324680
Bank Name: Kotak Mahindra Bank
Branch Address : The Peach Tree Complex , Block C, Sushant Lok - 1, 122001 , Gurgaon
IFSC Code : KKBK0004256

We make a living by what we get,  But we make a life by what we give. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Mission 30x30 - Helping Lotus Petal Kids in COVID 19 times.

"A kid's future shouldn't have to suffer, just because we couldn't arrange a laptop!"        - My talk with Kushal (founder of lotus petal ) early June 2020.   Friends, This is an appeal.   To raise funds to provide laptops to Lotus Petal kids, in these COVID-19 times, so they can continue their education.  There is a need for 30k USD and I am running 30 half marathons in June/July/Aug 2020 to raise awareness and funds for the same.  I need your support.  Just like you came together and helped with 50k initiative back in 2017... I am counting on your support...Read on... Never did I realize that a mere laptop could be the difference! But it is...today....for lotus petal kids. See, coronavirus has been a kicker. Before we could realize, schools were closed, students sent home and the city went on lockdown. Thanks to an earlier "school-in-cloud" pilot, we were able to pivot to online classes (live zoom sessions and archive youtube sessi

Update on Lotus Funds - A visit to campus

Dear donors, 152 donors, 20 countries, 52k USD raised - Huge thank you! I happened to visit India on a short trip and was lucky to spend a few hours at Lotus Petal. Here are highlights of what I saw. 1. First, your donations are making a difference. Lotus Petal Foundation raised about 2 crores in the recent fundraising drive at DelhiAirTelHalfMarathon and came up #1 (even surpassing Bharti foundation).   Your 33lakhs were a huge contribution to that.  Thank you. 12 new classrooms being built The lotus petal facility is a rented property (rent is about 3 lakhs a month) but the property owner graciously allowed construction.  12 new classrooms are being built and construction work was at full swing.   Given that 75 students were added recently (out of 475 that appeared for registration), these new additions are very important.  There are total of 400 kids at Lotus Petal now. 2. Things that hit you off the bat when you visit Lotus Petal is the dignity and respect that

Seeds > Trees > Forest (Peter's Story)

“There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward.” -- Khalil Gibran Peter, in a team meeting last week, heard me talk about Lotus Petal and mission 30x30. Before I know it, there was a donation made. Education, you see, is something he is passionate about. Back in 2001, he and some friends at the Rotary Club of San Diego built a High School for homeless children in San Diego. He donated a 40 seat computer and audiovisual lab to the school and then he continued with a laptop donation every month to give as a gift to a deserving student. https://monarchschools.org/ The story is part of a book, “ Guts!, Companies that Blow the Doors off Business-as-usual ”. Here’s a snippet: -- At a planning meeting for Monarch in the early days, Peter asked Susan (chairperson), “What needs has nobody stepped up for yet?” When Susan shared her vision of a state-of-the-art computer lab, Peter pulled out a small pad of paper, made some notes, and said, “I’ll take care of that