Seeking support for GKV Trust

The  two most important events of my 2013-14 running season are the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2014 on 19th  January 2014 and Boston marathon on 21st April 2014. SCMM is the marquee marathon event in India which I have enjoyed running every year since 2004. The Boston marathon is an aspiration for every marathon runner and I have been fortunate enough to be able to qualify and register for the 2014 edition. However, a key reason why these two marathons are critical to me is that I am running them this year to  raise funds for the children of  Gita Krishnamurthy Vidyalaya  - a school in Sankarnagar, Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu that provides English medium education to children of socially and economically backward families in the region with no cost to them. The school, which is administered jointly by Sri Jai Sankara Educational Trust and GKV Trust, was started in June 2009 and currently has 420 children from classes LKG to 5. 52% of the children are girls and over 75% of children come from families having income of less than Rs 40,000 per year. The goal is to add one class every year till class 10. 

The school is named after Mrs. Gita Kirshnamurthy - a dedicated teacher (who has taught at Mothers International School,Delhi,Cathedral School,Mumbai and La Martiniere, Calcutta) who passed away due to cancer in 2002.

The school currently operates from two rented buildings. Construction of a 11,000 sft permanent school building with all amenities comparable to any mainstream school has commenced in October 2013 and is planned to be completed by June 2014. So far the school is supported by endowments and donations from family and close friends. We are now seeking support from all well wishers to help us with the operating expenses and building construction expenses. My target is to raise Rs 3 Lakhs by April 2014. I am personally involved with GKV school as a trustee since 2010 and have seen first hand the tremendous progress that the school has enabled for numerous first generation school goers. The energy and enthusiasm of the children to learn is quite amazing. Being a zero overhead trust I guarantee that 100% of the contribution will be used towards the school expenses. Update of activities in the school is available here. 

Contributions in support of the school and the children can be made to GKV trust either via check or online bank transfer. Contributions in INR  are eligible for tax benefit under section 80G of the IT act. Donation of any amount is welcome and will help us tremendously. Details of amounts towards specific operating and building expenses as well as bank account details are available here.  As I train hard for the two races to meet my timing goals I  look forward to generous support from friends and family to help me achieve my fund raising target as well!!  

Fund raising for Gita Krisnamurthy Vidyalaya Trust

After a hiatus of  two years I am back to raising funds for a cause during the 2013 running season. I will start the season with the TCS World 10K on May 19th 2013 and hope to end it with the Boston marathon on 21st April 2014  with the Hyderabad marathon, Mumbai marathon  and the Bangalore ultra marathon in between. I am raising funds  for  Gita Krishnamurthy Vidyalaya   a school for under-privileged children in Sankarnagar, Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu that I have been personally  involved with for over 3 years as a  trustee of Gita Krishnamurhty Trust.

The school is named after my aunt  a wonderful dedicated teacher who  passed away due to cancer in Dec 2002. Summary of the current status of the school:  

•  GKV  was started on June 05, 2009 with 145 students of  LKG, UKG and Class 1 as a sister school of Sri Jayendra Golden Jubilee School Sankarnagar and is being administered by Sri Jai Sankara trust 
• Class 4 has been added from June 2012, the fourth year of operation of the School and a new batch of 74 children -  35 Girls and 39 Boys inducted in LKG. The total strength is now 348 children
• 90% of the children are first generation school goers from impoverished and socially backward  families from the surrounding areas in Tirunelveli district
• 50% of the children are girls 
• The goal is to provide a rich curriculum focused on all round development of children.
• Propose to add Class 5 in the  Academic Year 2013/14 
• Currently the school operates out of a rented facility
• 2.9 acres of land has been acquired in order  to build  a  school with spacious class rooms, play areas with adequate  play equipment, Library, auditorium, activity rooms , Labs etc  in phases 
• We propose to construct  9000 sq.ft. of the school building  progressively  over the next year or so

We are seeking funds for  operating expenses as well as building construction.   A contribution of  Rs 2500/- (approx US $ 50) will support the annual cost of  books and uniform for a child  while Rs 5000/- (approx US $100)  will support the costs of educating a child for a year.  Contributions can be made  either in INR or US $. See here for more details including bank account details etc.  This video  gives a brief visual summary of the school and its current impact. The contributions are tax exempt in India.  All donors can choose to receive periodic updates on the progress of the school  and the status and utilization of funds raised. Any other support in terms of setting up the library,computer lab etc is also most welcome.  

Look forward to generous support from friends and family specially those who have supported my fundraising efforts in the past. Feel free to get in touch with me if you have any questions or need more information.