2011-2012 CHARITY: Right To Play
RIGHT TO PLAY is the leading international humanitarian and development organization using the unique power of sport and play to build essential skills in children and thereby drive social change in communities affected by war, poverty, and disease. Right To Play creates a safe place for children to learn and fosters the hope that is essential for children to envision a better future. Programs target the most marginalized individuals including girls, persons with disabilities, children affected by HIV and AIDS, street children, former child combatants, and refugees.
What Right To Play Does: Working in both the humanitarian and development context, Right To Play trains local community leaders as coaches to deliver programs in 20 countries affected by war, poverty, and disease in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and South America. The programs incorporate a unique methodology that uses sport and play as tools for learning in four developmental impact areas: (1) basic education and child development, (2) health promotion and disease prevention, (3) conflict resolution and peace building, and (4) community development and participation. The two guiding principles are inclusion, promoting the involvement of children marginalized for reasons of gender disability, ethnicity, social background or region, and sustainability, working with local organizations to ensure programs have a lasting impact.
2010-2011 CHARITY: The Abhilasha Project
The Abhilasha Project is a non-profit organization that focuses on education as a catalyst for socio-economic change and progress in India and the rest of the developing world. Their current project is building a new school for underprivileged, handicapped children in Rajnandgaon, India. The current school is responsible for the education and welfare of around 80 boys and girls with spectra of handicaps. The new school will be a model of sustainable development including solar panels, rainwater harvesting and a few crops enabling it to produce its own electricity and food.
2009-2010 CHARITY: Medical Institue for Tamils (MIFT)
The Medical Institute for Tamils (MIFT) is an association of Tamil medical professionals in Canada. They provide humanitarian aid and medical assistance to refugees of the thirty-year civil war in Sri Lanka. SynesthASIA raised over CAD $ 7,000 last year for a project run by MIFT called God’s Children, which helps orphaned children in Sri Lanka.
2008-2009 CHARITY: Ashraya Initiative for Children (AIC)
The Ashraya Initiative for Children (AIC) is a home for street kids and community outreach project located in Pune, India. Currently, AIC operates three main programs in Pune: the residential program, housing ten kids; the education outreach program, supporting the education of more than 120 kids in the slums; and the health outreach program, promoting improved health in the slum through education, healthcare and community mobilization. SynesthASIA raised almost CAD $9,000 for AIC in 2009, which was used to help purchase an orphanage.
