Note that the school is a registered charity in India (#182450068), and had an FCRA (Foreign Contribution Regulation Act) account. An FCRA account is required to send funds to India. TRF has approved doing District Grants in India, provided the recipient of the District Grant has an FCRA account.
The Gamru Village School provides free education to poor disfavored children in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, India. This school was started in 2004 to serve the children of the local poor community and the children of the migrant laborers. Many of these families cannot afford to send their children to the government schools because they have to pay some fees, and they have to buy the books and uniforms. There is no cost to attend the Gamru school. Only the children from the poorest families are accepted at the school.
The school currently serves 186 children, and has 8 teachers and 2 staff. The school survives only from donations from local and international sponsors. A Matching Grant project was done in 2009 to give a great boost to the school by supplying some key equipment and support, like kitchen equipment, bookcases, uniform, books, school supplies, computers, water filtration system, etc. See project D-1311.
Now, the school is in desperate need of operating funds to pay the rent on the building. The rent for one month is 15,000 INR, which is 180,000 INR for one year, which is $2,800 USD at an exchange rate of 64 INR per USD. This project will provide the rent funding for the school for 1 year, which would give them the necessary boost and reprieve to keep going for the long term. The rest of the money will be used for food. Click here to see the estimated running costs of the school.
We will be working locally with the Rotarians from The Dharamsala Rotary Club in District 3070. They have done many projects with District 5340 in the past.
Click here to see a story by Philippe Lamoise when he first visited the school in 2004.
|