LINK: TiE aims to help India after helping Gujarat

[Frederick Noronha <fred@bytesforall.org>]

* Santa Clara (California) : TiE aims to help India after helping Gujarat

TiE aims to help India after helping Gujarat

by Sukhjit Purewal, India Abroad News Service

Santa Clara (California), Feb 17 - Raising money for victims of the
earthquake that hit western India January 26 has become a mission for The
Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), which has helped launch so much success in
Silicon Valley.

But simply helping the victims of the calamity that has claimed some 25,000
lives isn't where TiE sees its ultimate goal. TiE's thrust is to give a
helping hand to the whole of India by establishing a permanent endowment.

TiE, which is spearheading a larger Bay Area Indian American community
effort of 25 professional, cultural and public services groups dubbed United
Community Appeal (UCA), is committed to raising $25 million.

The group has already garnered more than $10 million in cash donations,
pledges, contributions and medical supplies. Lata Krishnan and her husband
Ajay Shah, cofounders of Smart Modular Technologies Inc. have led the way
contributing $1 million.

UCA has recruited former president Bill Clinton to help in the cause by
inviting him to a fundraiser scheduled March 2. TiE president Kailash Joshi
told IANS that Clinton has been invited but it will be up to Clinton to
announce whether he would attend the function.

Joshi said the organization just wants to collect as much money as possible
and hasn't set any deadlines for any certain amount. "Twenty-five million is
our goal but we've never done a project like this before," Joshi said,
"we'll just keep working at it."

The collection just doesn't end with victims of the Gujarat earthquake,
Joshi said, adding, that he'd rather spread the UCA concept nationwide to
establish a permanent endowment to continue providing assistance to India.
The funds would help long-term objectives, he said.

"We want to help India have better crisis management," Joshi said. "If it
(crisis) occurs -- how to be prepared for it -- rather than have a knee-jerk
reaction like it does now."

Another possibility is that the endowment could be used for the
establishment of a modern day peace corps, with a focus on youth volunteers,
Joshi said.

Others are also doing their part to raise money in their own creative ways.
Northern California's India Earthquake Relief Fund, made up of several
organizations, held a telethon on Sunday on a local Sacramento cable
channel. So far the group has raised $47,000 according to Inderjit Kallirai
of the Cultural Association of India.

Meanwhile, a Bikram yoga studio in San Francisco, Eureka Bikram Yoga College
of India, is also doing what it can to help the victims. On February 10, the
studio held continuous yoga sessions during a 24-hour marathon raising
$1,500 and was scheduled to do a second marathon February 17, studio manager
Janet Feldon said.

Helping is part of the teachings of yoga, she said, adding, "We try to
instill in our students that yoga isn't something you do several hours a day
but it is something you for the community out of compassion."

--India Abroad News Service