Team Asha – Annapurna Circuit

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WHO ARE WE ?

Bahar, Chiran, Hemang, Mahesh & Pinnaak.

We are long distance runners who enjoy the challenge of trail ultras. While training for the 53km SRT Event (Sinhagad Rajgad Torna near Pune), we trekked up and down Kumara Parvatha, discussing the idea of a longer and harder trek. Thus  began the plans for Annapurna Circuit and the start of the AC Team.

First get together for planning and prep

It’s hard to articulate reasons that any of us take on voluntary challenges. However, we all enjoy the beauty of nature and the sense of “flow” that an endurance challenge induces for us. Being “with” the Himalayas for 12 days may be reason enough. But we have also added an important goal of raising funds for children’s education.

Each of us has a certain credibility, built through the challenges we have undertaken and our achievements and accolades in endurance sports. We want to bring this credibility to you to vouch for the cause of Asha and its impact.

We feel lucky in being able to take on this challenge, and financially support our own journeys. We are excited to share our adventure with you. Please contribute generously and boost our steps each day with your support. If we can change the lives of even one child through this journey, it would enrich us all.

Why Asha ?

Because we want you to feel fully confident in giving. You may have been unsure in the past of where to give and whether the impact is worthwhile. We can confidently connect you to Asha as a high-quality, high-impact organization to which you can confidently contribute.

Asha funds education for underprivileged children in India. Based in the U.S. with chapters in India (under the name Asha Trust), it is rated a “full confidence” 4 on 4 stars by an independent organization that reviews such NGOs, called Charity Navigator. Asha has been around since 1991 and is known for its deep involvement with grass roots partners and thinking holistically about education within the community context that the children belong to.

Asha is also known for being excellent stewards of money, with long term relationships with each of the schools / projects that they deal with. They insist on regular reviews (12-18 months interval) on how the project has implemented its programs and how it has spent the budgeted funds. Volunteers also play an advisory role as “Project stewards” (the person assigned to being the point of contact for each school), offering external perspective and oversight.

Asha is apolitical and secular. It is transparent in its dealings (public meeting minutes & finances), meticulous in its documentation (every project has its own website with historical details of every budget proposal, Site Visit report, QnA session etc), and an unusual non-hierarchical organization that has grown with the digital world to make decisions democratically over technology.

Nearly 100% of your contribution goes directly to the projects and the children. The organization is unusual in its low overheads (< 5% for both Admin + Fundraising costs = exemplary in its space).

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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Whatsapp Anjana at +91-702-200-Seventy five forty nine