Our Crowdfunding Groups
Good Morning!
We have about 24 hours left on our HornRaiser Campaign! If you're looking to donate a second time this is your last chance to do so online! If you know of any friends or family still interested in supporting our efforts, please send them this link: https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/project/6473
On a separate note, today was the last day of final exams and we're all ecstatic to be done with classes and pack for India.
Thank you all again for your support and follow us on our blog: http://pucindia2017.wixsite.com/utgoesglobal Keep an eye out for the blog this summer, we're going to be posting our progress in country! If you have an instagram follow us at pucindia2017 as we will be posting here as well.
Happy Saturday everyone!
This Monday(5/1) Team India will be having our 4th and final Milestone presentation to our advisory board. After that we'll be cramming for finals and then graduation for our seniors. Then we hop on a plane and fly halfway across the world to start the project we've been preparing for all year!!
We'd love to meet all of you and tell you all about our project (seriously we can't stop talking about it) so we will be having a meet up and profit share at Chipotle on Guadelupe Street on Wednesday May 3rd from 5-9 PM. It would be great for all of you to attend, but if you can't make it and you'd still like to support us you can donate here https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/project/6473
We've raised about $800 and still have 10 days left to go! Stay tuned for one or two last updates before we fly out :)
Good evening everyone!
We want to thank all of you who donated last semester to our project. We really wouldn't be where we are today without all of your support. This semester we finalized our designs, spoke to the village leaders of Packianathapuram over video chat, and through it all grew closer as a team. We hope to coordinate with our community and contractor to begin foundation work soon. Unfortunately, we're still a little short of achieving our goal. So we're asking one more time for your help to reach the finish line.
We need to raise $3000 to close out, and with your help we can do it. :) Our second campaign begins tomorrow at 9:00 AM!
Here is the link to our new HornRaiser Campaign:
https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/project/6473
Happy Easter!
It's hard to believe that we'll be in India in less than two months! We've been working so hard since Day 1 and now we're so close thanks to all of you who donated.
It's been a while since our last update, so thanks for sticking with us. A lot of things have happened since, and we are excited to tell you all about it.
Most exciting of all was a call we had with our community!! Village leaders gathered outside and spoke with us over Skype with the help of our NGO representative, Mr. Poul, who translated for us. The village was excited to hear our plans and had several suggestions for layout, which we were happy to hear. It was incredible to actually be able to see and speak to the people we will be working with. The village is beautiful -- take a look at some of the pictures below.
Our Milestone 3 presentation went very well and we were given full approval for our project! A great way to kick off Spring Break in my opinion.
The team completed technical designs on the building and we are now in a review phase with our contractor. Our two technical leads, Danish and Arvind, spent some late nights putting a great design together.
Now that the semester is wrapping up, we're making moves to get all of our pre-departure logistics finalized: vaccines, plane tickets, and a few other items.
Stay tuned for more updates. :)
Special thanks to:
We're a little late with this update... The progress with this campaign is unbelievable!! In 44 days you have helped us raise $17, 579!!! We have raised 80% of our overall fundraising goal of $22,000.
There is 1 more day for you to help support us via our fundraising campaign! You've already helped up reach our fall semester goal of $15,000 and our secondary goal of $17,500. Please share our project with others, whether that be via Facebook, our Blog or a link to HornRaiser.
We appreciate all the kindness and support!
Wishing you a happy holiday and a bright new year!
- Team India
Thank you all for your generous donations to the Community Center for Packianathapuram! There are 10 more days for you to help support us via our fundraising campaign!
Our HornRaiser has been live for just over a month and we are almost 97% of the way, having fundraised $14,689. Please help us reach our fall semester goal of $15,000.
We appreciate all the kindness and support! Please share our project with others, whether that be via Facebook, our Blog or a link to HornRaiser. We would like everyone to have the opportunity to help make an impact on someone else's life.
Here are a few updates on what has happened this week:
We transitioned into our new roles and have created a plan for action for winter break - major goals being funding and speaking with a community representative and potential contractor for the project.
The government of India has an act in place that provides assistance to families experiencing poverty, called the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA - 2005). This act employs people in public works projects, like building toilets or roads. However, many people lack access to these funds because they are unaware of how to approach it: filing the paperwork and the timeline involved. Through linking our community to the internet and a local university, the community will be able to research and understand their options under NREGA.
Team India visited the Regional Foundation Library (RFL) in search of additional grant makers - both for personal funding and project funding.
Our condolences go out to the state of Tamil Nadu, after their Chief Minster, J Jayalalithaa, passed away on December 5th. O Panneerselvam was instated as the new CM, and his first big challenge to tackle is water, or rather the regional drought issue, as farmers stare at a loss of livelihood.
We are at a loss for words from the amount of support we have received this past week. Team India is very grateful for all the encouragement and contributions that are pouring into our team for the Community Center for Packianathapuram.
Special shout out to Kay Craig for contributing $2500 to our project! We would not be able to work on this project without the support, involvement and enthusiasm of over 200 committed supporters.
Our HornRaiser has been live for four weeks, and we are 73% of the way, having fundraised $11,066. We have 16 more days to meet our HornRaiser goal of $15,000 for Fall 2016.
We appreciate all the kindness and support! Please continue to share our project with others, whether that be via Facebook, our Blog or a link to HornRaiser. We would like to give everyone the opportunity to make an impact on someone else's life.
Here are a few updates on what has happened this week:
We presented our Milestone II to SLAB (Service Learning Advisory Board) on Friday and it was a success! Lots of great feedback was given by the professors and professional engineers that have invested in our project.
Team India met with the Austin chapter of Association for Indian Development (AID) to share the development of our project and seek additional resources.
With the coming break, the team will begin submitting grant proposals, transition team roles, and looks forward to some much needed R&R.
Thank you all for your considerate donations and ample support to the Community Center for Packianathapuram!
Our HornRaiser has been live for three weeks and we are 21% of the way, having fundraised $3,188. We have 24 more days to meet our HornRaiser goal of $15,000.
Our team is nearing a critical point in our fundraising efforts that will determine the success of our project. Please share our project with others, whether that be via Facebook, our Blog or emailing a link to our HornRaiser page.
Here are a few insights on our community:
A woman's role in this community is to maintain family by handling all aspects of domestic life (food preparation, child care, occasional help with agriculture (manual labor) and keep record of family financials).
There is a primary school in the village for children to attend and a secondary school some distance away from the village.
In this region, men are the primary source of income for their families. Many are agricultural laborers who have been struggling with the drought in southern India.
Our Conclusions:
This community center will provide access to nearby education for the children in the community, as well as a place for rebuilding the community. It will be used as a platform to discuss growth for the community - for women: economic empowerment activities such as soap making and for men: agricultural activities.
We have included a few photos of our community.
Thank you all for your generous donations to the Community Center for Packianathapuram!
Special shout out to the 28 UT students that donated $391 via Venmo! Thank you Texas Bluebonnets, Kappa Kappa Gamma and assorted students in the School of Social Work!!
Our HornRaiser has been live for two weeks and we are 16% of the way, having fundraised $2,508. We have 31 more days to meet our HornRaiser goal of $15,000.
We appreciate all the kindness and support! Please share our project with others, whether that be via Facebook, our Blog or a link to HornRaiser. We would like all of our friends and family to have the opportunity to help make an impact on someone else's life.
Here are a few updates on what has happened this week:
We had a video-skype call with the coordinator for CASA (our NGO) and learned more about the history of CASA's involvement in Packianathapuram and some history of the community. CASA has been operating in Packianathapuram for ten years and they helped start the Women's Group that signed the petition for a community center.
The community center will be used as place for discussions on livelihood. The region of Tamil Nadu has been declared a drought state, and small farmers have been hit the hardest. There will be a study room with computers and books for community members to research about technology for cultivating land with less water. With that in place, the community can discuss the best practices to mitigate the drought issue.
At the end of last week, we attended a presentation, 'Reviving Earth through Organic Farming', from the Austin chapter of Association for India's Development (AID). It was given by a guest speaker, Mrs. Revathi, from INSPIRE (a non-profit organization that trains marginal farmers and seeks to research and preserve traditional farming practices). Her presentation really opened our eyes to different sustainable agriculture practices used in India, whether it be organic farming methods, soil nutrient management, seed selection, sowing and storage or integrated farming.
Thank you all for your generous donations to the Community Center for Packianathapuram! Our HornRaiser has been live for one week and we are almost 10% of the way, having fundraised $1,347. We have 38 more days to meet our goal of $15,000. We appreciate all the kindness and support!
Here are a few updates on what has been happening:
* We had a video-skype call with the CASA NGO coordinator and he has provided some further insight into community issues and local resources we can tie into the community center. One of these resources is an off campus program from the local university where vets and staff will come and teach villagers about cattle rearing and animal husbandry. This program is brought through by Indian Council for Agriculture research (ICA).
* There are three potential contractors we have sent building designs to and are waiting to hear back on cost estimates. Once we hear quotes, we can discuss and decide which contractor will aid us in making this community center a reality.
* Follow us on Facebook to learn more about our team members and others involved with our project.
Your contribution will cover the cost of one CMU, or concrete masonry unit. These are the building blocks that will be used to construct the walls of the community center.
Your contribution will provide literature for this community resource center.
Your contribution will help furnish the community center with shelves, tables, and chairs.
Your contribution will provide the community with a local university student/professor to teach courses at the community center.
Your contribution will cover the electrical installation costs for this community center so that the community will have access to power for computers.
Like the Titan Atlas, whose broad shoulders supported the world, your contribution will cover costs associated with the construction of support beams beneath the structure and the foundation of the building.
Your contribution covers half the cost of the international travel, room and board for our technical advisor to accompany us.
Your generous (and very much appreciated!!!) contribution supports the basic costs to construct a community resource center for the village of Packianathapuram.
