Asha’s History
Asha for Education is a non-profit organization dedicated to the support of basic education in India. Asha, which means hope in many Indian dialects, was founded at the University of California, Berkeley in 1991 and has since grown to over 65 chapters scattered throughout the United States, Europe, East Asia and India. Each of these chapters raises funds to support various education-related projects in India.
Since its inception, Asha has partnered with more than 800+ NGOs from across 24 states in India and has disbursed in excess of $25 million. In 2012 alone, Asha has disbursed $2+ million and has supported the education of 250,000+ kids in India directly and many hundreds of thousands more indirectly.
Asha UGA’s Story
Asha Athens (also known as Asha UGA) was founded in fall of 1999 by a group of students who understood the importance of education and the need to provide such opportunities to the underprivileged. Today, the chapter draws members from a diverse group of students and alumni from the University of Georgia as well as Athens professionals. The members of this Chapter are a close knit group of dedicated individuals working towards a common goal.
The aim of the group is to generate awareness amongst the UGA and Athens community in-order to collectively support and provide financial assistance to grassroots educational movements in India. Every year, the group brings together the community with a fun-filled and colorful event to rejoice the arrival of spring on UGA campus, and in thence doing so generates funds to support several education projects. Members of Asha UGA not only help provide financial assistance to the projects, but also attempt to maintain a close contact and personal involvement with the organizations and projects in India year-round.
To maximize the chapter’s outreach, the group selects diverse education related projects from various parts of India including rural education, education of girl children, vocational training and non-formal education, education and support for physically/mentally challenged children as well as teacher training programs. Asha UGA works closely with other Asha chapters to ensure quality support is provided to educational efforts in India.