Katherine Anne Porter said, “Childhood is the fiery furnace in which we are melted down to essentials and that essential shaped for good.” A good education is a critical part of that fiery furnace. Asha is dedicated to providing that education to the less fortunate children. All of you reading this appeal know the value of a good education as an agent of change. Asha is one of the very few organizations where all the money that is donated directly benefits the recipient. All the overhead is borne by the volunteers. When I was trying to figure out how to best help this amazing organization the best way I could find was to reach out to you and do something in return for your help.

Hence the Strides of Hope. I plan to run the 3M half marathon on Jan 30th 2011 and the Austin Half Marathon on Feb 20th 2011 to raise money for Asha.

I plan to raise at least $1500 for this cause. Here are links to a couple of events I have run this year in preparation: IBM Uptown Classic, Run for the Water -10 miler to make sure I will survive a half-marathon :).

Donations to Asha are tax-deductible in the USA under Section 501(c)(3) of the IRS Code.

Corporate matching is an excellent method to automatically match your donations. Please check here if your company has a matching program.