"My son used to kick me when he was in my womb. Why make an issue when he kicked me in my old age?" reasons a very forgiving Shakti Dasi. The widow travelled 2300 kms from Tripura to Vrindavan after her only son violently beat her with a burning plank of wood and broke her knee one evening. She had to leave behind the business she had built with her husband who had died a few years back. Shakti ended up on the streets of Brindavan begging for food and shelter. But when Winnie Singh of Maitri saw Shakti in a frail state in tattered clothes, she brought her to the shelter home where Shakti gets food, care and medicines. What more, with Maitri’s intervention, Shakti reconciled with her son - and daughter-in-law, and now travels home to Tripura twice a year to spend time with her grandchildren. But she is not leaving Maitri, as this has become her family.Not every elderly widow who comes to Vrindavan after being abandoned by her family gets as lucky as Shakti. Many of them often end up living a lonely life and begging to survive on the streets. Maitri aspires to take care of every widow in need of help.<img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/ce101369-528c-4d37-bc1d-1118b9925af3.jpg" />Maitri’s Project Jeevan to the rescueAbandoned, elderly widows are the amongst the most vulnerable in India. After being thrown out of their often abandoned by their own children and are forced to beg for food and shelter. “Through Project Jeevan, Maitri houses aging widow mothers in two ashrams in Vrindavan and Radhakund (Mathura), providing them with wellness and well-being. The programme also reaches out to widow mothers beyond the ashrams with fruit, milk and healthcare services,” explains Winnie Singh, co-founder and executive director, Maitri India.Save homeless elderly widows from begging on the streetsMost widows who make their way to Vrindavan are abandoned by their families, often after years of abuse. They come here hoping they will spend the rest of their days in prayer and devotion. But most live in impoverished conditions on the streets and in dingy rooms. Since poor living conditions often cause a wide range of health ailments, including respiratory infections and chronic conditions, Maitri comes to their rescue through its Project Jeevan.The project aims to:<ul><li>Provide meals leading to improved health and wellbeing</li><li>Make physical and mental health services accessible</li><li>Offer necessary quality aged care and assisted living support</li><li>Increase awareness on and engagement around the struggles of abandoned widow mothers</li></ul><img src="https://cfstatic.give.do/1abfb906-563b-4747-85b8-8af2071a2856.jpg" />Project Jeevan needs your support to help those in need of food, healthcare and well-being. Donate now.“Maitri urgently needs your support to provide food, clothing and healthcare to sustain these widow mothers who are prone to more illnesses as they age,” appeals Winnie.Maitri believes in a woman’s right to dignity in life and death, more so a mother. Our help will enable Maitri to save hundreds of abandoned widows from a life of begging, and restore the respect, dignity, and identity they deserve.

This Navratri, save abandoned, elderly widow mothers of Vrindavan from begging on streets

In the dark and dingy alleys of red light areas, injustice, pain and suffering run rampant. And the worst affected are the children who grow up in red-light areas and are subjected to constant abuse and violence. “The sight of a 12-year-old girl being gang-raped by a group of men near a house l haunts me to this date. I was filled with anguish and resolved to do something,” says Girish Kulkarni who has made it his life’s mission to rescue children from red light areas and give them a safe and secure childhood. In the last 3 decades Girish has saved over 1100 girls from a life of abuse in red-light areas, giving them a loving home, education and medical care. He has further supported over 20,000 children with a better life.Sadly, 250 of the children rescued from abuse and exploitation are HIV positive. The high cost of medication has left Girish struggling for funds. Your support can help him provide these children with the care and upbringing they need. Donate now.Donate easily through UPI, all debit/credit cards and net banking. Charitable donations to this fundraising campaign are tax exempted under 80G of the Income Tax Act (India), &amp; 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (USA). A movement to protect vulnerable children“Growing up in Ahmednagar, the experiences I had as a child witnessing the horrors of sex trade defined the path of my life. I had even seen my friend’s 15-year-old sister and 70-year-old grandmother being forced to do sex work for the price of a cup of tea”, recalls Girish. “I started by merely feeding and teaching children of sex workers initially with the intention of giving them some respite from the horrors of life of abuse in red-light areas. Gradually more and more mothers started coming to me and asked me to take their children away, even if it was just for a couple of hours,” he further adds.The work that Girish started in his youth gradually grew to become a movement, with many more joining his cause. His NGO Snehalaya to date has transformed the lives of millions. Girish’s work is crucial for the survival and safety of vulnerable children of sex workers. Snehalaya is almost entirely dependent on donations from the public and your support can strengthen his mission to save children most in need. Donate generously.The horrors of life in red light areas“The cruelty and abuse that children as young as 6 or 7 years of age face is something that I can’t explain in words. Young daughters of sex workers are made to watch their mothers being raped, are brutally assaulted and forced into sex work. No child deserves to grow like this, Girish says in anguish.Sad reality of life for children growing up in red light areas is that they are deprived of even the most basic needs like proper food, safety and education. Moreover, a majority of children rescued by Girish are diagnosed HIV positive. The task of securing medication, providing them quality education and much needed nutrition is one that requires constant support from donors. Moreover, the increase in healthcare cost has left Girish struggling to keep his home for children going. But your support can enable him to give his children a loving environment and save many more who still remain trapped behind closed doors.Donate to this fundraiser by Give, India’s largest and most trusted online donation platform, to help Snehalaya give hundreds of children rescued from red-light areas a life away from violence and abuse.

Help Girish give 250 HIV+ children, rescued from abuse in red-light areas a new life

“They insert a candle in the vagina, fingers are inserted (in the vagina) and tortured, and if children don’t relent even then, they put chilli powder so that children will say “yes” because of the burning of the skin… There are teeth marks on their bodies, and their vaginal parts are burnt. When children stay in these conditions, it is painful even to hear,” says Lalitha SA of Society for Participatory Integrated Development (SPID), in course of talking about many heart-rending stories of trafficked children in red-light areas.In over three decades, the SPID led by Lalitha, has saved over 3000 children from the red-light areas, many from clutches of sex trafficking.Sadly, many more children need to be rescued and in need of a loving home. But Lalitha needs our support to carry on the mission, to move out of her small facility so that she can rescue more children, house them in a permanent location and give them all the love they deserve. Your support can help her give these children the care and upbringing they need. Donate now.Donate easily through UPI, all debit/credit cards and net banking. Charitable donations to this fundraising campaign are tax exempted under 80G of the Income Tax Act (India).A movement to protect vulnerable childrenAs a social worker, Lalitha has worked for decades in GB Road, the red-light area of Delhi and helped many women escape the clutches of being forced into sex. But it was the exploitation of children, many of them hardly ten or twelve or even less. The SPID has focused on rescuing such children and giving them a new life.Lalitha plays a vital role in the survival and safety of vulnerable children in the red light areas. As SPID is almost entirely dependent on donations from the public, we can support and strengthen SPID’s mission to save children. Donate generously.Donation to SPID’s fundraiser on Give.do“I have limited funds and very limited space, and if I had the funds, I would be able to rescue many more children and provide them with more comfort. With folded hands, I plead with you that you help us with funds in large numbers and support us in providing us children with a decent life. Become a part of the mission,” pleads LalithaDonate to this fundraiser by Give, India’s largest and most trusted online donation platform, to help Lalitha give hundreds of children rescued from brothels a life away from violence and abuse.NGO's 80G number: AADAS3217RF20212NGO's 12A number: AADAS3217RE20214

This Navratri, help Lalitha give kids rescued from abuse in red-light areas a safe and loving home. Donate now.

This is a sample description for Disaster Relief. For the purpose of testing I will use the wordDisaster ReliefDisaster ReliefDisaster Relief.

Disaster Relief

This is a sample description for education. For the purpose of testing I will use the word EducationEducationEducationEducation.

Education

This is a sample description for Women Empowerment. For the purpose of testing I will use the word Women EmpowermentWomen EmpowermentWomen Empowerment.

Women Empowerment

This is a sample description for Children. For the purpose of testing I will use the word Childrenchildrenchildren.

Children

An Initiative Touch Your Soul (AITYS) is an all-volunteer charitable trust founded by Mrs. Madhu Chowdhry in 2012, helping the underprivileged and working towards providing them with a better life. Our initiative may have begun in 2012 with helping a few people, but with each site visit and interaction in rural Uttarakhand, we have been able to better understand the 360-degree aspect of the challenges being faced by the people in the region. This has enabled us to strategically design the following specific solutions for our area of operations:✪School Infrastructure Support Initiatives - Pauri Garhwal in rural Uttarakhand has an existing network of primary and secondary Government schools, however the current infrastructure is largely outdated and needs a transformation. Most schools need functional classes, furniture, books, durries, computers, audio-visual aids, electrical equipment, sports equipment, and more, to function properly and create impactful learning. Many of these schools have yet to be equipped with any updated modern technology to support interactive teaching techniques. Infrastructure initiative builds in a component of updating current school infrastructure and adding new ones based on individual school’s requirements.Number of Schools given Infrastructure Support - 20✪Education Sponsorship Projects - Owing to the initiative by the Government of India and the State Government, elementary education in the region is free (till Class 8). However, maximum dropouts happen during the initial phase of secondary education (Classes 9 and 10) due to inability of the families to financially support their children. This is where AITYS steps in. Through the schools, AITYS reaches out to needy families and deprived sections of the society and sponsor their children so that they have the opportunity to complete their education. The education sponsorship projects includes a cheque that aids a child’s education for one year towards school fees, school uniform, books, etc. All school children are additionally given regular supply of Multi-vitamins and deworming tablets for healthy growth.Number of Students whose Education has been Sponsored - 3497✪Free Medical Camps for preventive healthcare - Region between Devprayag and Pauri in Uttarakhand has negligible or in some regions, no medical facilities. Villagers walk for miles to reach a road, wait for public transport and then travel for hours before they reach a medical facility for assistance. Additionally, poorly equipped local health centers, with insufficient staff makes right to basic health facility for a common villager a distant reality. AITYS team reaches in the proximity of these remote regions to give professional medical support. These facilities are made available from bus stands to government school compounds. They include free distribution of non-prescription medicines, health checkups for school children, their families and villagers in general.Number of People attended to in Medical Camps each Year - 15788AITYS received FCRA certification in September 2017 and complies with all requirements applicable under FCRA. It received its CSR certification in 2021 as per GOI requirements. Our website www.aitys.in contains more information about us and our work.Work Conducted so far in F.Y. 2020-21COVID-19 Relief Campaign: Financial Relief provided to more than 1600 families in Rural Uttarakhand, associated with 17 Government Schools. This was provided as many have lost means of livelihood in that region and families were finding it difficult to sustain and survive, a situation that would have worsened over the harsh winter.The expenditure by our NGO in this COVID-19 Relief project / campaign alone has been over ₹ 83,00,000/- (Eighty Three Lakhs Rupees Only) so far this year. Additionally, the families have been given masks and the schools have been given items towards their infrastructure. We are in the process of sending more sanitizers and masks for the health and safety of the villagers and students.

Donations through Give Foundation, registered under section 80G of India's Income Tax Act, 1961 are tax-deductible.

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Vibha Tomar

An Initiative - Touch Your Soul (AITYS)

This nonprofit is registered as a charitable trust under section 12A of India's Income Tax Act, 1961.

This nonprofit is registered under section 80G of India's Income Tax Act, 1961. This means you can deduct 50% of the donation you made through your tax return.

This nonprofit is registered under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2010. This means it can accept donations from foreign nationals.

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Period, menstruation...is still considered a taboo in parts of rural India.Girl, who is menstruating is shunned to a corner of her home for those 5-7 days every month - deprived and restricted from doing her everyday activities.As per a latest survey by P&amp;G (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/advertising/brands/article/adoption-of-sanitary-napkins-is-less-than-20-in-india-whereas-adoption-of-cosmetics-like-lipstick-is-significantly-higher-at-65-chetna-soni-pg/articleshow/82219127.cms" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Business Insider, April 26, 2021</a>) adoption of pads in India is less than 20%. Unfortunately this figure has only dropped further during the pandemic as schools in the rural areas remained shut for a longer duration. Cost of pads is a big concern and one of the biggest causes of the lack of adoption as it is a cost center for a family when it is compared to basics of “getting food on the table”. Girls are forced to use and re-use old socks, rags, etc. in place of a pad which is not just unhygienic for her condition but can be lethal.  During their periods, girls in the rural area are immobile and handicapped from doing basic household work, chores, etc. attending school is farfetched. It’s probably difficult for urban dwellers to fathom, but lack of availability of pads affects their well-being, confidence and education as well. 
 AITYS is an all-volunteer charitable trust that operates in the Pauri Garhwal district and was founded by Mrs. Madhu Chowdhry in 2012 with a belief that “No child should be deprived of education because of poverty”.From supporting 3 schools to 20 schools till date, AITYS works across Education sponsorship, Health- medical camps, and providing Infrastructure support to facilitate quality education. While working closely with the schools and teachers, our volunteers found out how “period” was the main cause and affecting the girl students across the schools. With your support, we will be able to provide a year long supply of pads to 1300 girls across 20 schools. By doing so, we want to give them the basic gift of hygiene and safety. Having a continued supply of pads will lessen the pressure on their families to provide for the same amidst the hardships the rural dwellers face day in and out - the dilemma if they will have enough food on the plate for the family. Going forward, AITYS would also be building good toilets to ensure girl can have a safe, hygienic place to use during her menstruation and continue her education in a dignified manner. Your contribution would greatly assist in this effort. 
 Making “Period” taboo-free and a hygienic experience is our motto!We want them to embrace their bodies and fertility. Inculcating positive values and associations for menstruation early on will have a ripple effect and break the taboo.Girls will be able to walk equally on all days to school, attend classes, make her life happen on her period days and other days as well! More importantly we want girls to never be ashamed of periods.

Gift a pad - Gift her a smile

With much hesitation, a teacher informed an AITYS volunteer during one of our school visits about the need for underwear by the majority of the school children. Many girls do not even own one pair of underwear. The price of the underwear is high and it is considered a luxury they can do without. Now imagine the plight of these young girls during their periods?When we ran a campaign called GIFT A PAD, GIFT A SMILE to provide sanitary napkins to the girls in the villages, it was brought to our attention that more than half the girls do not own the undergarments, which makes the use of sanitary napkins impossible.Thus, due to the lack of basic hygiene needs, girls are left to feel embarrassed and rejected by their peers at school. It greatly impacts their self-esteem. They have no choice but to skip school on the days they are menstruating.Hygiene and physical comfort are fundamental human needs. Children living in poverty often get financial support for food and school supplies, but one basic need that often goes overlooked is undergarments. Without this basic need met, often too embarrassed to go to school, girls lose interest in their education. In many cases, they even drop out of school. 
 Underwear is the most under-donated yet most needed item of clothing for the young girls. AITYS’s mission for this undergarment project is to serve 27 rural schools where each girl will get a new pack of 6 underwear to begin with. We need around 15L INR to support these 2500 children. 
 Having access to a pair of underwear could bring the change which will build safe hygiene practices. It will help girls to use sanitary napkins and not miss school days. AITYS endeavor is to provide education on menstruation and hygiene practices and remove the stigma surrounding this issue amongst girls in the rural areas.

Donate for UNDERWEAR to ensure HYGIENIC PERIODS

The second wave of COVID-19 has resulted in unimaginable devastation in India. The “Moment of Truth” COVID-19 campaign was created by AITYS in order to raise funds for those most affected in areas of rural Uttarakhand, particularly in the districts Pauri and Tehri.Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, people in rural Uttarakhand have been more affected than those in cities. Primarily relying on tourism or remittances by relatives who migrated to work in cities, neither of these sources of income could be counted on. Heightening the pressure, migrant workers returned home and needed to be fed, and children who used to get mid-day meals in schools have had to eat at home.With the onslaught of the second wave of COVID-19 in 2021, they have had to deal with the combined hardship arising from the loss of employment since March 2020, as well as the reverse migration to villages. The dismal medical infrastructure and the grief of losing those near and dear have only aggravated the burden. Compounding this, unprecedented cloud bursts in the region in May 2021 as a result of climate change brought about further destruction. It seems nature's fury and man’s callousness have created a grim present for children in schools, families at home and the community at large. 
 In order to mitigate the strain of the first wave of COVID-19 in 2020, AITYS conducted the “COVID-19 ZERO HOUR” campaign to support the students and families of the 17 schools currently sponsored by AITYS in Uttarakhand. This campaign allowed us to provide 5k INR in assistance to each family to sustain their basic needs over a few months. Our NGO raised a total of 8.4M INR to help 1663 families.Our sustained relationship with the people of the area has meant that we are very aware of the ground reality of severe hardship brought about by the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. With both tourism and migrant labor bringing in little income, prospects for the remainder of the year look bleak. Families are struggling for basic sustenance and have to grapple between the decision of keeping food on the plate or continuing their children’s education uninterrupted. They simply do not have the means to support themselves through this time.And so, we ask ourselves - How can a child study with an empty stomach? How can a person survive COVID along with the harshness of starvation? This is our “Moment of Truth”, a point of reckoning for us to reach within us to extend a hand and a light of hope to help each one of these families. The campaign aims once again to distribute 5k INR per family to keep them safe from starvation. We now have 2000 families to take care of in 2021, and We are determined to support them all.This project forms a small part of the larger work done by our NGO for these schools. Since 2012 we have provided school sponsorships, worked towards improving infrastructure, and provided items to students to achieve a much bigger goal that, “No child should be deprived of education because of poverty”. The results of our efforts are visible and confirmed by school authorities, as well as the multiple messages received by our NGO via social media and WhatsApp. 
 AITYS envisages the impact of this project to its beneficiaries in three main segments as that of the "family of the school going child", "the child itself as a student" and "the school as a larger entity". The families supported are those whose children are enrolled in 17 Government Inter College schools.With the help of this funding, these 2000 families will be able to sustain themselves financially with basics over next few months and tide over difficult times. This financial support will reduce pressure on the families to support their child’s educational expenses.AITYS has seen from their experience that each time there is a crisis, child's education in these regions bears the brunt before anything else. Children are forced into helping at home or on farm lands as easy labor. For the child immediate impact translates thus, into continued education. There are reduced chances of the child’s education not suffering due to the poor economic condition of the family. More importantly this step would safeguard the child from being pushed into child labor.For school staff it helps build empathetic staff-child relationships by making them a partner during times of crisis in a child’s life.In the long term, continued education for the child increases better higher education and employment opportunities, helping the family sustain themselves. For the child and school, it ensures continuous attendance in school and regularity of the child. Increased happiness and job satisfaction will certainly lead to better teaching output for the school staff.

COVID 19 - Moment of Truth

Defecating in the open, isn't it humiliating? In the remote villages of rural Uttarakhand, we have discovered that children regularly leave school in the middle of the day - for the trivial reason that they might need to use the toilet. For the girl child, during her period, two other girls often accompany her to home in order to ensure safety. Parents also feel uncomfortable about their teenage daughters being exposed to the risk, and frequently choose to keep their daughters home during their menstrual cycles. Indeed, lack of toilets is one of the top reasons for a girl child to drop out of school once she reaches her menstrual age. All this amounts to children loosing critical learning time in the most shaping stage of their lives. A lack of proper toilet facility is a point of neglect in school infrastructure in this area. As a consequence, most children currently relieve themselves in the open and without proper sanitation facilities, these children also face a range of dangers including encountering poisonous snakes and all other kinds of insects. This is the sad but reality for children in many of the schools in Pauri and Tehri districts of rural Uttarakhand. 
 Though the government of India has launched the Swachh Bharat Mission as a nation-wide campaign to eliminate open defecation in rural areas (launched in 2014), there is still a long way to go when it comes to the government schools in rural Uttarakhand. These schools rarely have sufficient funding to provide adequate and long-lasting sanitation facilities for the children.National School Sanitation Manual recommends one toilets per 40 girls and a female staff/ one urinal per 20 girls and one toilet plus urinal for 80 boys and one male staff/ one urinal per 20 boys.AITYS is committed to join hands and provide safe, clean and hygienic toilets in these schools so that no child has to ever miss precious learning time, which is so critical to shaping their future.Estimate for building a toilet is around 7.5 lakhs INR which will include following: <ul><li>3 wc with doors</li><li>2 wash basins</li><li>1 shower area with door</li><li>1 changing room with door</li><li>Place to install 1 incinerator</li><li>1 cupboard to store sanitary napkins and other necessary items</li><li>2 water tanks</li><li>Kota stone floor for easy wash and maintaining hygiene</li></ul>AITYS is targeting to build at least 1 toilet for girls in each of the 20 schools it is working with. 
 Building better sanitation and toilet facilities mean an increased attendance for children, especially girls, in school.We want to cultivate the sense of self respect in children, to learn the importance of hygiene and have an awareness about sanitation. Forming good hygiene practice from early childhood can have a positive effect on a child's growth and development. It will help them stay healthy, ward off illnesses, and build better self-awareness. It will also help inculcating the notion of respecting one’s surroundings and one’s sense of privacy.Childhood is the best time to cultivate a sense of self respect and a sense of respect and consideration for others. Encouraging individuals and communities to adopt good sanitation and hygiene practices is one of the key factors for the development, and this endeavor will also help accelerate the efforts of India's Swachh Bharat Mission.