Welcome to my 2011 Vision Builders 5K Fundraising page!  

Vision Builders is a U.S. based organization that carefully selects partners from around the world who are native to and living in their regions and who have already started small humanitarian projects in the fields of health care, children’s education, and job training for women. They work with these proven leaders to plan and fund next-step expansion of their efforts to better meet the overwhelming needs of extremely impoverished communities.

Vision Builders is currently working with Dr. Ashish and the Kutumb Project. 

Throughout the world, the urban phenomenon of street children is growing. In many cities it is so overwhelming that it is largely unaddressed, leaving countless vulnerable homeless children to grow up on the margins of society without the love, care, education and supervision of adults. Within the slums of Varanasi, India an inspired partner project, Kutumb, is meeting the need directly—helping kids who have absolutely nothing resembling a childhood to have lives of greater promise and dignity.

Dr. Ashish doesn’t just visit the slum of Varanasi to help street children – he lives there with his wife, Puja, their infant son, and the 30 street children who call the project home. At least half of the children are under age six. Together, this young couple, along with a small corps of volunteers, care for the children who live at Kutumb like a well-organized and happy family, and they manage all the other community outreach programs offered there.

Although the children are happy and healthy at the current Kutumb shelter located within the slums, it offers no safe area where they can run and play outdoors. Most of these children have never even seen an expanse of open field that isn’t covered by trash piles. The goal is to relocate the 30 orphans to a much safer and more enriching, natural environment.

Thanks to everyone's generous donations last year,  Kutumb was able to buy a piece of land ouside the slum!

Just 15 kilometers from the original Kutumb shelter is a 2.5 acre plot of grassy, tree-lined land that is now the location of the Kutumb Project’s new home. Easily accessible by a paved road, the land is located in a peaceful, historic village called Rameshwaram. “There are some trees of mango and guava!”, Dr. Ashish enthusiastically says of the new property.

Now, we need to put some buildings on those acres! 

Vision Builders aims to raise $250,000 by 2014, so construction of the new facility can begin in phases as funding becomes available.

To help Vision Builders raise these important  funds I'm participating the Vision Builders 5K Run/Walk.  Please contribute!  I want to raise $3000! That's a lot but I think it's doable!

http://www.visionbuilders.org/kutumb-project/