World – Help Empower

American India Foundation – Light a Lamp Campaign (2015 – 2024)

AIF is a non-profit organization helping underprivileged and underserved communities in India. AIF has raised more than $118 million and impacted about 5.6 million lives from across 24 states of India( www.aif.org ).

Sanah and Sanya have been supporting and creating awareness for the Learning and Migration Program (LAMP) campaign for underprivileged children’s education since 2015 as AIF Youth Ambassadors

Some LAMP Programs and initiatives:

Supporting Adolescent Girls
Promoting STEM Education in Learning Resource Centers
Nurturing Tribal Children
Running Seasonal Hostels

Completed multiple fundraisers helping raise over $15,000 which provided education and educational enrichment STEM programs to over 600 children of migrant workers in India.

The sisters raised over $2600 in the recent (2023-2024) AIF Light a Lamp Fundraiser – https://my.aif.org/fundraiser/5100015

As Captains/Team Leaders for the AIF New England Chapter 2021-2022 Light a Lamp Campaign, their team raised $5861.

Their second fundraiser completed in ( 2017-2018 )and they raised $4265 – https://my.aif.org/sanyasanah

Their first fundraiser raised over $3,200 for the Light a Lamp Campaign (2014-2015)

Sanya and Sanah also volunteer every year for the New England AIF Gala in Boston which raises nearly a million dollars each year to support philanthropic programs in India.

Every summer the girls have been visiting and creating awareness for the different work done at the AIF ABLE sites in India – like the National Association of the Blind, Deeds Catering Institute, ICICI foundation etc.

Awareness & Pen Pal Program

Created awareness through presentations and speeches for the AIF – Light a Lamp campaign at Buckingham, Brown and Nichols school, Wellesley Public school and community events like IFNET Newton Diwali Ball etc. Volunteered

http://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/article.php?article_id=11814&utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=email_this&utm_source=email

Sanya started the Pen Pal program in Grade 5 by connecting underprivileged children of migrant workers in India with her classmates at BB&N school in Cambridge, MA. Sanya felt that she should continue to create more awareness and educate the kids in her class about the lives and realities of the children in India and how they can help them.

Through the Pen Pal program, the kids from her 5^th grade class made postcards and wrote about themselves and their lives/hobbies etc. Her class teacher too wrote a letter for the teacher in India.
These postcards were then mailed by AIF in Boston to the AIF chapter in India.

Below is the link to the article in the local MA newspaper:

http://www.lokvani.com/lokvani/article.php?article_id=11481&utm_campaign=shareaholic&utm_medium=email_this&utm_source=email

Helpful Life Peace World

Bicycle & Book Donation Drive

Every summer the girls have visited, volunteered and raised funds for various necessities like Bicycles, books etc. for underprivileged girls at the Smt. Radhadevi Goenka Public School and the RDG College for Women in Akola. Some of the students were walking nearly an hour each way to get to school as they did not have any proper mode of transportation and money. The donation of bicycles helped cut down their travel time and gave them more energy to spend on education.

Helpful Life Peace World

Cataract – Eye Operation Camps (2012 – 2015)

Raised Funds and distributed food, clothing to patients at the Cataract eye camps organized in Akola, India. A mere $25 helps to restore eyesight to a poor person. They were able to fundraise and provide cataract operations to over 200 people in under-resourced communities. These camps gave the gift of eyesight to underserved poor communities who would have gone without care and suffered from blindness all their lives.

Helpful Life Peace World

Orthopedic & Limb Surgeries Camps (2010/ 2011)

Volunteered and raised funds to be provide free limb corrective surgeries and prosthetic limbs to over 50 disable children at the Orthopedic Camps in Akola, India. Our mission was to provide these children who had lost their limbs in accidents or those born with congenital defects the ability to improve their mobility and thereby improve their lives. The parents of these children were unable to afford these expensive surgeries on their own.