Send your donation gift to:
Lily Foundation, PO Box 59824
Dallas, TX 75229 OR
The Lily Foundation
42/12 N.S.C. Bose Road,
P.O. Regent Park, Kolkata-700 040
-SAVE-THE-DATE-
Saturday, 14th September, Lily Appreciation Dinner, FunAsia, Richardson
Spelling Bee Spells Success at DFW Community Level
Lily Foundation USA conducted Spelling Bee contest on March 23 (Prelims) and March 30th 2013 (Finals) at Richardson IANT Office & FunAsia, Richardson respectively. The event has aroused a consciousness in the Dallas-Fort Worth Indian community about the need of exposure to the kids. The parents also took an active part during the contest and some became Lily volunteers. Local business sponsor like MAD Science (http://dallas.madscience.org/) took the opportunity to lure smart kids in their fold. Thanks to Tarun Anand from Morgan Stanley sponsoring part of the event and offering advice on the college career for budding students. (http://www.morganstanley.com/).
The educationalists and business professional judges had a tough time keeping up with the intellect and IQ of the competing kids. Every participant received a Certificate of Participation. Three winners in each of the four final categories received trophies. The trophies were handed over by local celebrities; Mr. John Hammond (Fun Asia CEO), Ms. Shabnam Modgil (Fun Asia Marketing head) and Mr. Loknath Patra (IANT, President). The mayor of Frisco Mr. Maher Maso was present to deliver a poignant and inspirational speech to the gathered audience including the children.
The winners were:
|
Groups |
Grades |
Winner |
Runner-up |
2nd Runner-up |
|
Group 1 |
First Grade and under |
Abhinav Chunduru |
Akshath Annadi |
Arman Kapoor |
|
Group 2 |
2nd and 3rd Grade |
Syon Kundu |
Rishi Mallela |
Parthivi Nair |
|
Group 3 |
4th and 5th Grade |
Saheli Mazumdar |
Rohan Nagabharava |
Navya Chunduru |
|
Group 4 |
6th, 7th and 8th Grade |
Yogita Subramanian |
Hirak Patel |
Sakshi Kulkarni |
The kids were divided into 8 groups at the Prelims based on their grades. For the finals, the groups were merged to 4. There were three winners from each of the four groups. The Judges belonging to various academic & professional fields boosted the energy and morale of the kids in addition to making it a fair competition for the kids who were participating in a spelling bee for the first time. Refreshments were provided to each & every participant during the Prelims and Finals.
Lily Foundation joined hands with Canada-based Toronto-Calcutta Foundation to hold a premier health camp in March where villagers got their eyes examined free with medicines, eye-glasses and post check-up surgery advices including logistics assistance.
Distant villages around Ghatsila in Jharkhand got their rare chance of receiving free eye care. Enthusiasm of old and young was evident from the long lines of more than two hundred people. Jennifer Northcote from Toronto-Calcutta Foundation was thankful to Lily Foundation and the host JC High School for holding a successful event, while Mr. Saha explained the significance of such an enterprise in his inauguration speech.
Dr. Shibaram Majhi, Dr. Suman Das and Dr. Samir Das provided their expert medical services. Teachers Mr. Subrata Kumar Guha, Ms. Anju Kumari and Mr. Arup Choudhuri (with his friends) organized the event. A total of 211 patients got examined, almost all of whom got free vitamins, eye drops or other medications. 85 patients got free eye-glasses and quite a few got cataract surgery logistical assistance. Asansol Mahatma Gandhi Seva Sadan, a
One satisfied sponsor is in fact worth more than one. How?
Mr. Banaj Kamal Basu and Mrs. Anjan Basu of California, the current sponsors of Kulbani Vidyasagar Computer Learning Center in Kulbani High School, Paschim Medinipur, inspired by the success of their first sponsorship, have spread open their hearts even wider to sponsor a second computer center at Amdanga, Bankura. This center, Lily Foundation’s 6th named “Bibekananda Computer Kendra”, will debut in early May at Yugacharya Vivekananda Seva Samiti facility in Amdanga, Bankura.
The target beneficiary group will be the long-neglected area Shabar-tribe boys and girls. Some students will be residents at the Yugacharya facility while others will come from nearby High Schools, namely at, Keshikocha, Simlapal, Dubrajpur and Bikrampur.
The Yugacharya facility is 30 KM north of Garbeta in PaschimMedinipur. Br. Ajay Maharaj is the Secretary-in-charge.
Lily Foundation currently runs computer centers in 5 locations around West Bengal and Jharkhand helping over 1200 students. Sponsoring one such center costs $6000 for the first year, and $3000 for each of following 2 or 3 years. You select the name of the center which will be engraved in a marble stone tablet at the entrance. You get an annual report with pictures.
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Study Homes Following the national trend descending from the central level, Lily Foundation realizing the need for the students (as well as their parents) to know of their rights and privileges embarks on a new awareness campaign. Foundation officials and teacher-coordinator hold parent-teacher conference in each AALO Study Home to discuss the “bill of rights.” Each parent was distributed a two-page charter that contained the student’s rights on one side as to what they are entitled to in terms educational instruction, food, school-dresses, school-bags, health-check, teacher treatment and expressing their grievances, and on the other side the student’s duties about discipline and studies. Primary Coaching Homes Although Lily Foundation currently operates only two AALO Primary Coaching Homes, both Homes show steady performance improvements of students. The recent visit of Lily officials at the Onda (Suklai) facility reveals that each student performs at least two or one level higher over their public-school curriculum. Beginning next session, the teacher of the Home Aloke Goswami will admit 5 additional students, making the roll up to 16 students. Study Home sponsoring for a 6-mo period costs $840 for full cost, other options for sponsoring text books, school bags , uniforms and nutrition program exist (visit www.lilyfoundation.org/lilysponsoringoptions.html). Primary Coaching Home sponsorship costs $555 for a 1-year period. You get an annual report with details of students' progress and pictures, when you sponsor any project of Lily. |
“Lily is my father, Lily is my mother.”
Eloquent claim reverberated the hall when Dipa Poulick burst emotionally in front of the 250-strong audience in the education conference. As infant she was abandoned. Perhaps worried parents had preferred to part with their new gift of God over the fear of dire poverty hitting them even harder. Today, destiny brought Dipa under the Lily SMILE umbrella to take care of not only her educational expenses, but her clothing also when she begged help from Lily volunteers for some used clothes to wear in the conference and for the harsh winter. Dipa has been receiving award since 2009 and is due to appear at Higher Secondary this year.
SMILE scholars continue to make headlines by their performance. Mumpi Koley got 1st prize in extempo speech competition on Swami Vivekananda at Ramakrishna Mission Seva Pratisthan. No one ever got the first prize earlier in its 5-year history. Mumpi is an under-graduate student of Nursing at the Seva Pratisthan. In another news Bandana Mohanto, a recent graduate of Nursing and holder of pride-of-lily award, stood first in the district of Dakshin Dinajpur (9th in
For the knowledge of our readers, some recent SMILE rules are: 1) Sponsors can make ad-hoc award (money or other gifts) to their ex-students. For example, Mahadeb Mukherjee, a physically-challenged extremely poor student of primary teachers’ training college, received monetary gift from Mr. Banaj Basu of California; 2) College students may be jointly sponsored by two to make up the award money (double that of a high school student) to help meet the high college cost.
SMILE sponsors popularity is growing. You too can enjoy the pride of rescuing a family out of poverty cycle by contributing just $15 a month (or $180 a year). Recent sponsors are: Som & Ipsita Lahiri Chakraborty, Sudipta Chakraborty (4th), Kamal Chanda – Pink Lily, Sumantra Choudhury, Prabak & Ranjita Ghosh, Abani & Ranu Karmakar (2nd), Diya Sarkar, Snehasish Sarkar – Blue Lily.
Visit us at LILYHOME> SMILE
The vocational center at Thakurpukur, Behala added a third course on their curriculum - Air Conditioning and Refrigeration. The popularity of the training centre is underscored by sponsor Andrew Yule company's desire to expand the facility opportunities to a wider youth population. The Times of India, March 22, published the news item (attached right).
Other vocations at the location available are: Home Electric and Appliance repairing, Mobile Phone electronics repairing.
Saturday, April 27th, One-day Cricket-cum-Picnic
Do Cricket and Picnic mix? You bet.
Lily Foundation is hosting it’s XX th Annual Cricket match and picnic at
All proceeds from the event will go towards educating 2500+ children of Lily Foundation. A donation of $10 per person or $25 per family is suggested. Homemade snacks, lunch and soft drinks will be provided. Lily celebrates the fun event with local DFW community every year. Kids and parents actively participate to make it a successful event.
Register or call for details: Bhaskar Sarkar 978-BHA-SKAR, Mousumi Chatterjee 469-734-9317, Amal Mukherjee 214-351-1231, Prasad Sarkar 817-294-5536
Sunday, May 12th, Mother's Day Homeless Feeding
Union Gospel Mission, Fort Worth, Feed-the-Needy fun cooking and treating needy guests will take place on May 12. Volunteers who love group cooking and serving must not miss the opportunity.
Call for details: Tuhin Chatterjee 469-734-9317, Amal Mukherjee 214-351-1231, Prasad Sarkar 817-294-5536
Visit us at LILYHOME> FEED_THE_NEEDY
Save-the-Date Saturday, September 14th
Annual Appreciation Dinner, FunAsia, Richardson
Call for details: Tuhin Chatterjee 469-734-9317, Sraboni Lahiry 972-517-8878, Bhaskar Sarkar 978-BHA-SKAR, Amal Mukherjee 214-351-1231, Prasad Sarkar 817-294-5536, Mousumi Chatterjee 469-734-9317
The Lily Foundation of America Board of Directors elected
President: Tuhin Chatterjee Vice President: Sraboni Lahiry
Secretary: Bhaskar Sarkar Treasurer: Prasad Sarkar
Director: Basab Chatterjee Director: Anirudh Maitra Director: Amal Mukherjee
