Asha Kiran - About

About Us

History Board Members Strategy Beneficiary List Sponsor List Beneficiaries who have completed courses

What we do
Asha Kiran USA's goal is to provide children from poor or deprived families the financial aid and moral support required to obtain their basic right to education, through Asha Kiran India. Asha Kiran India members and experienced volunteers pick these children. All donations go directly towards sponsoring a child. Complete transparency is maintained in the collection and disbursement of funds. All funds collected in the US are directed to Asha Kiran India alone.

Who we are
Asha Kiran USA is an organization that works with Asha Kiran India, both consisting purely of volunteer members. Asha Kiran USA increases awareness and raises funds for Asha Kiran India. None of the volunteers or members are paid for their work. They have been part of the organization as they share our guiding principle and obtain a sense of satisfaction from their work.

Zero administrative costs
As we have no salaried employees any minimal administrative costs are borne by members or volunteers themselves. All donations made by sponsors go to the child's welfare through Asha Kiran India.

We want to expand
The areas from where we pick our children are limited by the reach of Asha Kiran India's volunteers. We aim to expand our work to different parts of India and possibly other countries, with our growing network of volunteers.

Other contributions
Apart from helping needy children, Asha Kiran India has also helped extend financial and moral support to poor families. They have so far helped two homeless families build a modest house for themselves.

History of Asha Kiran USA and India

Founding of Asha Kiran India
In 1996, G.L.Y Mendon and Krishna Shetty founded Asha Kiran India, to be a ray of hope in the lives of poor children. They fervently believed that investment in education is investment for a better world. "Education for All" is a cause they were passionate about. They did not want gender and financial status to determine an individual's right to basic education.

Asha Kiran India was started with a donation of $5000 from the founders themselves. Initially, the organization aimed to provide monetary help to sustain the education of children from financially constrained families based in and around Mangalore, India. Mr. Mendon and Mr. Shetty drafted the constitution, laid out the working procedures, registered the organization as a charitable trust and obtained income tax rebates for donations/sponsorships in India.

From the initial funds, $4000 was allocated to fixed deposits and the remaining money was utilized to help build two houses for needy families and to cover minimal initial expenses.

Founding of Asha Kiran USA
In 2006, Mendon, along with Prithvi Shetty, a sponsor since three years, discussed setting up a fund raising organization in the USA to support Asha Kiran India's goal of sponsoring poor children's education. They were joined by four other motivated and enthusiastic sponsors, Aarti Kumar, Praveen Herur, Arjun Seshadri and Varun Chandola to form Asha Kiran USA in the same year. They came together in their understanding of the economic disparity in India and the need to raise awareness among like-minded people to contribute towards alleviating it.

The founding members of Asha Kiran USA are also firm believers that education empowers the poor and gives them an opportunity to break free from the cycle of poverty. They formed the board of directors, drew up the bylaws and registered the organization in the state of Maryland and at the federal level. They are currently working towards obtaining 501c3 exempt status

Achievements
As of December 2007, Asha Kiran India supported the education of 111 children, up from 72 the previous year. This was made possible by sixty sponsors spread across the world: India, UK, USA and UAE. Twenty children have completed their education and most of them are gainfully employed. This includes two women engineers who are now volunteering for Asha Kiran. The rise in the number of sponsors was largely contributed to by the efforts of Asha Kiran USA.

Asha Kiran India has grown to cover families from Udupi(50 miles from Mangalore), Puttur (30 miles from Mangalore), Kasargod (Kerala), New Delhi (through Deepalaya), Bellary (Karnataka) and Rayadurga (Andhra Pradesh). Mr Ciprian Lobo and Mr. Mohandas Suvarna, board members of Asha Kiran in India, are actively involved in bringing more children under the Asha Kiran umbrella.

The board members of Asha Kiran USA are currently leading the effort to increase the volunteer base and sponsorships from individuals based in the United States.

If you would like to learn more about our current status, long-term and short-term goals and achievements, please visit our Goals and Achievements page.

Board Members

Board Members and Officers, Asha Kiran, India
G.L.Y Mendon, born in 1962, is a Mechanical Engineer and is the chairperson and founder of the organization. He resides in Maryland, USA and he coordinates all activities of Asha Kiran between India and USA. He is also a coordinator for another charity organization "SMILE".

Mr. Krishna Shetty, born in 1949, is a retired manager from Vijaya Bank and is the vice chairperson and founder of Asha Kiran. He resides in Mangalore, India. He enrolls and coordinates with beneficiaries, distributes funds to children, monitors their progress, manages the finances of Asha Kiran, India and helps coordinate with the USA chapter. He is also a coordinator for another charity organization "SMILE".

Mr. Mohandas Suvarna, born in 1952, resides in Mangalore, India . He enrolls and coordinates with beneficiaries, monitors their progress and disburses funds to the beneficiaries.

Mr. Ciprian Lobo, born in 1951, is a retired manager from Vijaya bank and resides in Mangalore, India. Mr. Lobo enrolls and coordinates with the beneficiaries.

Ms. Susheela Putharn, born in 1927, was an active social worker in her hey days. She is one of the founder members and sponsors of Asha Kiran.

Mr. Satish Kotian, born in 1955, resides in Mangalore, India. He enrolls and coordinates with beneficiaries and monitors their progress.

Board Members and Officers, Asha Kiran, USA
Prithvi Shetty, born 1980, is a board member and chairperson of Asha Kiran USA. A society without bias is her dream and she leads the Asha Kiran USA team in their efforts to make this a reality. She lives and works in Boise, Idaho.

Aarti Sampath Kumar, born 1978, is a board member and holds the officer position of treasurer. A resident of Chicago, Illinois, she uses her financial acumen to handle Asha Kiran USA's accounts. She is a firm believer in education, and is a big contributor to the expansion of Asha Kiran USA.

Arjun Seshadri, born 1979, is a board member and of website administrator. Apart from being dedicated to raising awareness, he uses his software engineering skills to manage Asha Kiran USA's home on the web.

Varun Chandola, born 1979 is a board member and database administrator. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota and uses his expert computer science skills to build and maintain the database.

Praveen Herur, born 1979, is a board member, secretary and correspondent. He uses his excellent organizational and communication skills to work with our sponsors. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.

G L Y Mendon, born 1962, founder and chairperson of Asha Kiran India, is also on the board of Asha Kiran USA. He works with Asha Kiran India to determine the funding needs in the field in India, obtains receipts for the USA funds and brings back background information and progress reports of the beneficiaries supported by Asha Kiran USA. He makes his home in Baltimore, MD, USA.

Strategy

Asha Kiran USA works towards bringing in sponsors to fund the education of poor children in India. We raise awareness and solicit funds by speaking to like-minded people and by providing information through our website. Asha Kiran USA directs all its funds to Asha Kiran India who employ the following strategy to work as an efficient and sustainable non-profit organization.

1. Identify needy families
Start by identifying families, who can benefit from Asha Kiran's support. Members and volunteers pick out these families after meeting them and analyzing their situation. These families so far have been from different cities from the coastal part of Karnataka, specifically areas around Mangalore. A few children have been from Delhi and Kerala. Priority is given to the girl child and to children who have lost one or both parents.

2. Finance the child's education
Help by financing the child's education partly or wholly and monitor the child's progress in school.

3. Provide moral support
Recognize that a child's success cannot be achieved solely with monetary help. A lot of these families need to be shown how education can lead to the improvement of their child's life and possibly theirs. Hence, volunteers meet the child's family, at least once a year to motivate them and lend moral support and guidance.

4. Career Guidance
As the child progresses to a higher level of education, volunteers encourage them to identify their vocation of interest and help them obtain the required training or higher education for the same. They also arrange for bank loans for selected children for professional studies. The goal is to help the child grow into an economically independent and worthwhile citizen of the society.