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Jewelry sale on Nov. 28 to benefit poor in India

Here’s a wonderful opportunity to get started on your holiday shopping and help India’s poor at the same time.

The UNC School of Social Work will once again head to India for our second study abroad trip.  As a part of the experience, participating students and faculty are required to raise money to donate to the charities that we will be visiting while we are there.  In order to raise these funds, faculty member

Rebecca Brigham and graduate student Jennifer Gadd will be sponsoring a holiday sale on Monday, November 28, 2011, from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the 5th floor lobby of the Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building (School of Social Work).

Jewelry designers Mary Beth Rubano and Anna Maria Cerqueria will be selling their unique jewelry designs and Jennifer Gadd will be selling hand crafted items from Bali. Please come and visit their booths and help us raise money for the people of India.

Some of the charities we will be donating to are:

  • Apne App Women’s Collective – Started in 1998, AAWC works with one of the most underprivileged and isolated sections of Mumbai’s society – women in brothel-based prostitution and their children.
  • Muktangan – an initiative of Paragon Charitable Trust, is a pioneering educational program with an innovative model, working in close partnership with the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai and a number of NGOs across the country.  The mission of Muktangan is to evolve sustainable, replicable inclusive models of quality child-centered teacher education and school programs in partnership with marginalized communities and to advocate them to the larger system.
  • Mewsic – Mewsic was founded by Brett Lee, a famous cricket player who played on the Australian Cricket Team.  Due to his love of India and music he founded, Mewsic, an organization which uses music to heal, empower, educate and advocate for marginalized children in India.
  • Apala Ghar – was established in 2001 by Mr. Vijay Phalnikar and his wife Sadhana, after the death of their only son Vaibhav, who died of cancer at age 15.  Apala Ghar provides residence, education and support to homeless orphans and elderly citizens from the state of Maharashtra.
  • Maher – “Maher” in Marathi, an Indian language, means “Mother’s Home,” a haven of hope, belonging and understanding, where women not only feel love and comfort but are assured of security.  Maher provides shelter for women and their children who have experienced domestic violence.  They also provide residence for women who are homeless either because they living with a severe and persistent mental illness or disability or they are elderly and have no family to care for them.
  • Shelter Associates – is an NGO working in Pune, India comprising architects, social workers, GIS experts and community workers.  They work with the urban poor, particularly women in informal settlements to facilitate and provide technical support to, community-managed housing (slum rehabilitation) and infrastructure projects.
  • Eklavya Nes – provides residence and education for the children of commercial sex workers, women who are experiencing alcoholism, HIV infected parents and single parents.
  • Poona School and Home for the Blind – has been a pioneer institution in the city of Pune working in the field of blind welfare.  It was started in 1934 by Dr. S.R. Machav, a physician who was particularly devoted to the needs of the blind.
  • Jamkhed – The Comprehensive Rural Health Project, Jamkhed (CRHP) has been working among the rural poor and marginalized for over 40 years. Founded in 1970 by Drs. Raj and Mabelle Arole to bring healthcare to the poorest of the poor, CRHP has become an organization that empowers people to eliminate injustices through integrated efforts in health and development. CRHP works by mobilizing and building the capacity of communities to achieve access to comprehensive development and freedom from stigma, poverty and disease.