Aasha co-founder Karen Doff and Aasha friend Kathi Watson spent the Christmas holiday with the Sharanam Centre for Girls. We sponsored a holiday party with individually wrapped gifts for all the girls, as well as food, cake and decorations.
Gifts this year included bracelets and costume jewelry donated by Aasha friends Linda and Warren Goldfarb.
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In early December, we sponsored a movie outing to see the Hindi movie "Aaja Naachle" at a nearby modern multiplex. The girls had an opportunity to play video games followed by dinner in the food court.
August 2007
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Construction commenced on new toilet facilities for the Sharanam Centre for Girls, sponsored
by the Aasha Foundation.
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Unrelated to Aasha Foundation activities, the Sharanam Girls performed on
“Boogie Woogie”, a nationally televised
dance competition show that’s been running for 11 years in India. The following week, they were featured on a special
charity episode of “Indian Idol.”
July 2007
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The Sharanam girls received new Old Navy clothing from Anna Reisbaum who bought the clothes in lieu of
receiving gifts for her 10th birthday.
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Aasha friends Josh, Meredith, Murell and Avery Levine visited India along with Karen Doff and spent
10 days of their trip at the Sharanam Centre for Girls. They donated 5 laptops and other equipment
and established a computer lab for the girls. They also bought Crocs for the girls and sponsored an
outing to the Infinity Mall in Versova to see the Bollywood comedy “Bombay to Goa”, play video games
and eat dinner out at Parbat Kailash.
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Aasha friend Ashifa Sarkar joined Karen Doff on an outing with the Sharanam girls to the Adlabs Wadala
IMAX movie theater to see the Hindi drama “Apne”.
May 2007
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Mumbai’s Dharavi slum, home to the Sharanam Centre for Girls, was featured in the May 2007
print and online editions of
National Geographic.
January 2007
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Jenn Ryan and Mark Aiello organized a trip for the Sharanam girls to the Taj Mahal. Sponsored by Cheryl
& Randy Altschuler and Dana & Liam Brown, the trip included flights on Kingfisher Airlines from Mumbai
to Delhi and a night in a hotel – the first-ever flight and hotel stay for the girls. Jenn and Mark were
joined on the trip by Mark’s father as well as by a number of colleagues from Integreon Managed Solutions
who helped to chaperone.
December 2006
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Karen Doff spent the Christmas holidays with the Sharanam girls (they celebrate Christmas). The Aasha
Foundation sponsored decorations and gifts for the girls (holiday t-shirts and games), as well as an
outing to see the Bollywood movie “Dhoom 2.” Aasha friends Phil Moore, Ed Rose and Vanessa Parr donated,
respectively, a Christmas tree, CD player/boom box with a cd library of Bollywood movie soundtracks, and make-up kits.
