August 2019 Vol 2 No. 2

Dear friends and supporters of Sevalaya USA,

Thank you for your ongoing support to Sevalaya USA. We are excited to share that since November 2018, we have supported 361 students at Sevalaya’s Mahakavi Bharathiyar High School. We are on track towards our goal of providing full support to 400 students at the school by October 2019. Your donation is a gift for the future lives of these students.

Currently, there are 2083 students studying at the Mahakavi Bharathiyar School and more than 1000 students were trained in 10 trades at 8 community colleges across Tamil Nadu. Many of the students live in small single room houses with no special facilities for studying. The parents mostly work as daily wage earners and struggle to make ends meet. This year, the school achieved 100% pass rate in X Std. English-medium section and XI and XII Board examinations. Each year sees a steady improvement in the performance of the students.

Donor Visit: Mr. Vijaianand from Texas, who has been a supporter of the school for the last 14 years, has set up 4 endowments and is currently funding 27 kids. On his visit to the campus, he said the following: He supports Sevalaya because he has a direct relationship with the organization and he is confident that his donations go towards supporting the children instead of towards administrative activities.

The school also provides free and nutritious food to all students through the generosity of supporters. In June 2019, Board member Mani Subramaniyan visited the school, the clinic, and the community college. He also participated in the lunch program with the teachers and students.

We are proud to inform you that Indian Medical Association honored V. Muralidharan, the founder of Sevalaya with a Lifetime Achievement Award in July 2019, for his service to the poor.

Sevathon 2019

Sevathon is on September 8, 2019. Please sign up for Sevathon and support Sevalaya USA. You may sign up for a half marathon or Sun Salutations or any race/ activity of your choice. Go to http://iccsevathon.org/ to register. Please REMEMBER to Select "Sevalaya USA" in the menu "Sevathon-2019 Non-Profit partners." After you complete your registration, you should get an email confirmation. Before the event, you will be notified by email about t-shirt/bib distribution for participants and instructions regarding parking and schedule. After you finish your walk, please visit our booth and find out how your support has helped the children of Sevalaya.

Amazon Smile

One easy way to support Sevalaya is to shop on smile.amazon.com. Go to https://smile.amazon.com/ and select Sevalaya USA from the charity list. Whenever you shop on smile.amazon.com, Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to Sevalaya.

We are also looking for volunteers to join our team. For additional information, please visit us online at sevalaya.us and facebook.com/SevalayaUSA.

Sincerely,

Sevalaya team

January 2019, Vol 2, No 1

Dear friends and supporters of Sevalaya USA,

Happy New Year! Thank you for your support over the last year. Projects funded by Sevalaya USA make a difference in the individual lives of the people in the communities that we serve. Your support is vital to our success.

In August 2018, Sevalaya USA raised $2100 to contribute to the Kerala Flood Relief efforts of Sevalaya, India. On the eve of Onam, a team from Sevalaya, India distributed clothes to 2000 families who lost their homes. Materials were distributed at the Apna Ghar camp in Kanjikodu village and in Mulampuzha hill tribal colony. We are touched by the generosity of our donors, who made it possible to raise funds in a very short time.

In November 2018, Sevalaya USA successfully raised $500 for blankets, pillows, sweatpants and sleeping bags for families affected by the Camp Fire and staying at Pleasant Valley Baptist Church shelter in Chico, CA. Additionally, we raised $1750 for the Butte County Fire Relief Fund to support the schools affected by the Camp Fire in Butte County.

Thank you for your continuing support for the education of underprivileged children at the Mahakavi Bharathiyar Higher Secondary School in Kasuva village, Tamil Nadu. In July and August of 2018, Project Teachers’ Salary sponsored annual salaries of two teachers. During the same period, Sevalaya USA sponsored 155 students for a year and created one Student Endowment fund with $1501.

We are excited to announce our new project, Project Education. Starting in November 2018, Sevalaya USA is making distributions towards two categories:

• Basic student needs aid at $130 a year per student.

• Full educational aid at $250 a year per student.

We aim to fund the education of a total of 400 students. Please refer to our website for detailed information. This project grant runs from November 2018 to October 2019. So far, we have made good progress towards our goal by providing full educational aid to 58 students. We need your support to fulfil our goal of 400 students.

Thank you to Sundar Ramanathan and Sneha Sreeram for hosting a Facebook birthday fundraiser and increasing the visibility of Sevalaya online. A very special thank you to longtime supporter Vijaianand Thirunageswaram for fundraising year after year to support the mission of Sevalaya.

Our longtime supporter and a very generous donor, Dr. S. Krishnamurthi from Tulsa, OK spent a day with the children and staff of Sevalaya on his last visit to India, providing valuable feedback and support. We also want to thank all our supporters who registered for Sevathon 2018. We had 26 participants and we look forward to having many more in 2019.

A quick and easy way to double your contribution is through employee giving programs. Many corporations match employee donations to our organization. We will do all paperwork on your behalf. Another way to support us is through AmazonSmile. Use this link to do your shopping (http://smile.amazon.com/ch/82-1291775) and Amazon Smile will donate to Sevalaya USA.

We are also looking for volunteers to join our team. For additional information, please visit us online at sevalaya.us and facebook.com/SevalayaUSA.

June 2018, Vol. 1, No. 2

Dear friends of Sevalaya,

Summer is here and we would like to share our achievements over the last few months.

Thank you for your continuing support for the education of underprivileged children at the Mahakavi Bharatiyar Higher Secondary School in Kasuva village, Tamil Nadu. Since the beginning of the year, Sevalaya USA has sponsored the education of 166 students, ranging in age from 5-17.

Now we have a new project, supporting the construction of a senior home for the destitute elderly. This will initially benefit 20 senior citizens. The construction of the home is in progress (See picture on the left).

When we make grants to an organization, we closely monitor the distributions and visit project sites to verify that the funds are being used only for the projects they were granted. Venkat, one of the board members of Sevalaya USA, visited Mahakavi Bharatiyar Higher Secondary School in March 2018 and met the students and teachers.

We are happy to report that the students at the Mahakavi Bharatiyar Higher Secondary School have performed exceptionally well in the 12th standard exams this year, having secured 99.20% pass results in class XII board exams. This is a big achievement “as these students live in shattered families and single room houses with no special facilities for studying. The children also have to help out their parents, who mostly work as daily wage earners and struggle to keep the family afloat"(Sevalaya, 2018).

Research consistently shows that teacher quality is a key determinant in increasing student scores and student engagement. This is especially true for children in the primary grades. This quarter, we were successful in sponsoring the salaries of two additional teachers (making it a total of five) – Mrs. S. Bhuvaneswari and Mrs. S. Lakshmi. Mrs. S. Bhuvaneswari, DTEd., B.A (Eng.) teaches English and Science and Mrs. S. Lakshmi, BA (Econ.) has a diploma in primary education and is the Kindergarten teacher. Together they make a difference in the lives of 142 students.

We need your support to fulfill our goal of funding the salaries of 20 teachers by August 2018. Please donate generously.

Sevalaya is participating in ICC Sevathon on August 19, 2018. Please support Sevalaya USA by signing up to Run/Walk/Yoga at http://konnectme.org/event/join/3250796/?ref=3266697

A quick and easy way to double your contribution is through employee giving programs. Many corporations match employee donations to our organization. We will be happy to do all paperwork on your behalf. Another way to support us is through AmazonSmile. Use this link to do your shopping (http://smile.amazon.com/ch/82-1291775) and Amazon Smile will donate to Sevalaya USA.

We are also looking for volunteers to join our team. For additional information, please visit us online at sevalaya.us and facebook.com/SevalayaUSA.

Thank you to all our supporters for the successful Vidushi Bombay Jayashree Concert fundraiser in association with SanKritiLaya. You have made an impact in the lives of underprivileged children by providing them access to quality education. We extend our gratitude to SanKritiLaya for their support.

Sincerely,

Sevalaya team