About NGO:

Help A Child is vision is of an India where all young people are able to continue their higher education and excel, regardless of their financial status and background. We work towards this goal by providing scholarships to highly motivated underprivileged students who have scored well in their studies.

Our students come from a variety of backgrounds, from slums and villages; their parents may be labourers, weavers, watchmen or domestic servants. Some students are orphans or belong to single parent families, many work part time to help their families survive. We believe that education is the best way to end the cycle of poverty, ensuring a better future for our beneficiaries.

We have supported more than 1000 students to achieve their dreams, many of whom are sponsored for more than one course. Help us to reach out to even more students in need, transforming their lives through the gift of education.

Fund Usage:

Help A Child will be using the marathon donation, towards sponsoring the education of more children. We still have many talented students, who would wish to pursue higher studies and would benefit from the proceedings given from then Marathon. Help A Child hopes to be able to sponsor the education of over 1000 students by next year.

Impact:

A young girl, Sujata Bisnal was our inspiration to start "Help A Child". Sujata had scored well in her 10th standard exams but was unable to continue her education as her family planned to have her married soon as they did not have the resources to allow her to continue school and her mother wanted to lessen the burden on the family.

Sujata's life had been one of hardships, her father had abandoned the family when she was young and they had gone to live in her grandmother's house. Her mother's brother who had been supporting them was injured and could no longer work, leaving her mother and aunt to support the family as daily wage labourers. Sujata believed that there was no hope for her to study further, she had to either start working or marry and leave the family.

Moved by her story, Samir Somaiya, Chairman and Managing Director of Godavari Biorefineries Ltd, offered to sponsor her further education and Sujata became the first student of the Help A Child project. Today she has graduated with a Bachelor of Education and is currently pursuing a Master of Arts while she waits for the teacher qualifying exams.

Since this small beginning, "Help A Child" has sponsored more than 1000 deserving students, helping them to achieve dreams of education that would otherwise be impossible

Page Url :
http://www.unitedwaymumbai.org/ngo143_somaiya_vidyavihar_trust.htm

Founded Year: 1959

Cause category: Education

Our Supporters

• Vipul Ambani
• Abhijit Ash
• Lavin Kotian