Dear Friend,

It has been a busy, and exciting month at Aasraa Trust. We finally have a Centralized Kitchen for our children in Araghar! The kitchen aims to provide for over 1600 children and will ensure the nutrition that is key to the health and well-being of our children.

We also organized Aasraa's first ever  aan Manthan Mela, a Science and Math Fest with Aasraa children and teachers on 25 September 2021. With the objective of fostering curiosity, inspiring creativity, and igniting imagination in young minds, this initiative encourages children to go beyond classrooms and find solutions from around us by means of a Tinkering Lab at Aasraa.

Each year, hundreds of children and families rely on your support to sail through the brutal season. This October, with winter around the corner, we appeal to you once again to help our children access basic needs that everyone must have access to. 

In Dehradun, temperatures can go as low as minus one in the months of December and January. We need your help in raising funds for winter kits and food for the children and their families. 

At Aasraa, our motto is to level the playing field, and we aim to reach each and every child to provide the much-needed last-mile services. With your support, we can provide them with winter wear including tracksuits, thermal vests, caps, etc. to keep them warm and safe and food to keep them alive. 

Please consider contributing to this fundraiser, and you can directly impact the lives of so many bound to suffer miserably during the upcoming winters. 

We are counting on you.

When children forgo classrooms, it is also the chattering of peers and peels of laughter that is forgotten. In a world where the mute button is slowly replacing a teacher’s gentle chiding, we need to find newer ways for children to experience social and emotional learning from their peers. And what better way is there, than a volunteering program?

Despite the pandemic, we have had 24 individual volunteers as well as 36 volunteers from 15 institutions working closely with us and providing a spectrum of support to everyone at Aasraa Trust. 

We are grateful to our individual volunteers: Aditya, Avishi, Barrie, Caitlin, Dylan, Hassanain, Karam, Kaustubh, Naman, Neha, Prabha, Prabha, Priyanka, Reah, Ruchi, Sachiel, Shreya, Sidharth, Silvio, Sparsh, Stephanie, Veni and Vrinda as well as our institutional volunteers: Aleena, Andreas, Anna, Anneesha, Ambika, Aryan & Aashi, Arrisaa, Baebara, Camila, Charul, Deepa, Esha, Gowri, Heluer, Julie, Jacqueline, Keziah, Mara, Mahika & Soumya, Manan, Manisha, Monica, Muskan, Nitesh, Preeti, Rohit, Rishika, Rita, Seeya & Vrinda, Sheeba, Smriti, and Tapish.

These good samaritans have conducted trainings for our teachers, project managers, outreach team, staff, and of course for our students. From teaching physics, chemistry, mathematics, english, to topics like sustainable development, lifeskills, art training, drama, physical exercise, our volunteers have ventured into every field and given it their all.

As teachers and students transition to a world of Zoom calls, apps, and poor internet connectivity, we at Aasraa Trust believe that human interaction is the foundation of an educational and learning experience.

Mainstreaming street children requires careful guidance, and the learnings are often two-way. Our volunteers have shown us that with hard work and dedication, teaching itself can be very rewarding.

Aasraa Trust is immensely grateful for the philanthropy that sustains our projects. Educational empowerment is the key to breaking the vicious cycles of poverty and deprivation, and the street and slum children of Dehradun can now imagine a better future because of your support.

We cannot thank our donors enough for their contribution, and shall continue in our endeavour to positively affect the lives of the children in Dehradun with your kind support. 

As the world reels under Covid 2.0, we sincerely hope you and your family have kept safe and well. 

With the uncertainty of the present crisis and the duration that this may continue, devastating isolated struggling communities, Aasraa is in the frontline of defence in collaboration with the government to reach aid to them.   As Covid ravages our interiors, Community Health Centers (CHC) in Uttarakhand are struggling due to lack of basic equipment to diagnose & treat people infected with Covid 19, leading to increased death rate & transmission.

The situation needed  immediate attention before the monsoons made the roads impassable.  Aasraa is working with the Chief Medical Officer in several districts to identify their urgent requirements.  Leading a large-scale effort, with NGOs & individuals, we are sending urgent supplies to CHCs. 

Supplies include oxygen cylinders, concentrators, nebulizers, inverters, medicines, protective clothing & sanitizing materials. Our team is in constant touch with CHCs & their doctors to track the needs & to ensure that supplies are maintained. We have delivered supplies in three lots to CHCs in Districts of Tehri, Chakrata,Chamoli & Rudraprayag. 

We have converted one of our centres in Dehradun to give primary health care to our children to lessen the strain on the few hospitals in the city which have no beds available anyway.  These are fully equipped with concentrators, oxygen cylinders, essential medicines, and Covid protective gear and medical care packs.

We have set up Help Desks, by circulating the mobile numbers of our staff, in the communities we work with, for any emergency help for medical intervention or for distribution of ration packs for those who need it.

An initial small amount has been set aside to help with hospital bills of sub staff and children who may not get covered under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme. (a Government of India Health Insurance scheme).

 We are incredibly indebted to you for the outpouring of support to our Covid-19 appeal. The prompt help you have so kindly given us has expanded in its value touching upon many aspects of helping fight COVID and keeping our children, their families and other marginalised communities safe.You are making the world a better place by being the hope that people need!

Thank you for going above and beyond in aid of those otherwise unreachable.  The people of Uttarakhand owe you forever.