Minutes of Asha Seattle meeting on 03/26/08 Venue : RTC LWSD No 414, Morton Johnson Room, Redmond, WA Attendees: Kamal, Ankit, Srijan, Ken, Deb, Theresa, Marina, Megha, Nagendra, Salima, Vibhavaree, Shailesh, Arvind, Ravi, Binay, Kannan, Eera, Sujit, Vijay. Geetanjali  Food Containers & Waste - Srijan Proposal to use bio-degradable food boxes for Geetanjali event and use waste management's yard waste program to make the event a low-waste event. Total Estimated Extra Cost $188.78 including sales tax on rental. Vote: Yes – 12, No – 0, Abstain – 2  Project Why - Megha & Kannan Background on Project Why and Anouradha Bakshi (founder). 13 centers of variable services in South Delhi slums. Asha provides 40% of the annual budget needs ($28K out of $65K approx). Project Why has a goal to become sustainable; for this they intend to purchase land in Delhi and build a guest house. Income from the guest house would be directly used to fund Project Why; in addition the proposed land will also accommodate abandoned and disabled children, house abused women and provide education facilities for the kids. Purpose of presentation - Should we fund a one time land purchase for NGO to build on? Ask:  $ 47,000, one time, Rs. 20 lacs Planned use of land to build 3 separate modules - Guest house, Childrens home and Women's shelter Land close to international airport, 1200 sq m. 2 plots. Cost of 80 lacs, 10 lacs interest free loan, 70 lacs to come from donors. Plan to have 10 guest rooms for rent, restaurant, kitchen/cafe, center for special children and space for staff. Rest of land to be used for community activities. Guest house idea modeled on Ninos Hotel in Cuzco, Peru (http://www.theperuguide.com/cusco/hotels/budget/ninos-hotel.html) Estimates cost to run: Rs 16 lacs annual. Estimated Income Projection based on 60% occupancy @ Rs 1500 per room per night - Rs 31 lacs annual. Discussion on projected occupancy rate and room rate being high due to the current economic boom (also distance from city center & proposed metro). Presenters said project will break even if the income is half of projection. Total estimated cost of land (2 plots) and contruction - Rs 1.3 crores Ask from Asha Seattle to fund half the cost of 1 plot i.e. Rs 20 lacs. Rest to come from other sources (urgency because a donor backed out at last minute). Vote: Yes – 14, No – 1, Abstain - 2. Amount: Rs 20 lacs one-time · Approval contingent on strings being attached to the funding (strings to be worked out by presenters separately). Betsy Elizabeth Trust Established - Sujit Need funds for a basic building to house one of their crèches. Betsy Elizabeth Trust provides small schools or creches, for children under 5 years of age, in the bottom economic rung of Indian rural villages.  4 creches total, all in the same area. $13K USD support funded by Asha currently Tourism in Kodai has hiked up rents, and renting creche no longer feasible. Been asked to leave. Acquired 1/4 acre of land to build on. Structure to be smaller than current rental - toilets but no kitchen Vote : Yes – 16, No – 0, Abstain - 3. Amount: USD 3976 one-time Ratanmani Vidyalaya -  Salima Bangur One-time funding request for a Asha UIUC residential school project. With them since 2004. Location:  South Tripura District, Tripura What they do: In 1994 the project started as non-formal education for the dropout and non-school going tribal children.  The course curriculum was condensed so children could complete  class V within 3 years. In 2000 the school got recognition from the state education department as formal primary school. They provide  -  Basic primary education up to the class V , Vocational training on animal rearing, plant nursery and agriculture & basic training on Computer. Size:  # 234  students, 6 teachers, 2 staff Out of a total budget of Rs 8.08 lacs, need funding for Rs 324,000 . They have recvd $500 ( appr 20,000) from ASHA UIUC chapter. ASHA-Canada is trying to get about Rs15,000 from individuals. Need from Seattle ~ $7323.   Vote: Yes – 16, No – 0, Abstain - 3. Amount: USD 7323 one-time, Contingent on Chapter Coordinators obtaining satisfactory answers from Asha UIUC contacts re: 1) Reason for 2008 funding falling through for this as well as several other projects. 2) Asha-UIUCs' 2009 funding plans. 3) Is the chapter planning on shutting down? If likely, we may be better off stewarding the project ourselves.  Projects to highlight for Wheels of Change -  Arvind Srijan to forward the list of projects that qualify to Arvind.

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