From Chanda Athale, Founder and President of REACH IN US
I first visited Anandwan and Hemalkasa for three months in early 2006, after leaving my full time job. Anandwan and Lok Biradari Prakalp (LBP) in Hemalkasa are two main projects of Maharogi Sewa Samiti, which was established by the late Baba Amte in 1949 (https://anandwan.in) . Anandwan is a small village of 2,000 which provides housing, jobs, and community of acceptance for people with various disabilities. Lok Biradari Prakalp provides health care and education for the Madia-Gond tribal community in Hemalkasa. For three months, I immersed myself in all aspects of life in these two remarkable communities. I was so moved by my experiences that upon returning home to Northern Virginia, my husband Ravi and I launched an informal organization called Friends of Anandwan, with the help of our supportive friends.
The primary objective of Friends of Anandwan was to increase awareness of the work being carried out by the dedicated workers at Maharogi Sewa Samiti and to raise funds to support their activities. The principal fundraising event of Friends of Anandwan has been its annual “Heart and Soul Walk”. This walk has served to raise funds to send to India, while also promoting health and wellness in our own lives.
Chanda Athale with late Baba Amte, founder of Anandwan
Motivation behind starting REACH IN US Foundation
Our experience with Friends of Anandwan was transformative. We saw tremendous enthusiasm and desire to contribute from like-minded friends. However, we also realized the limitations of our small and somewhat informal organization. As a legally established non-profit foundation, we can now have the scope to undertake formal projects.
Healthcare and education are two key areas where needs are not being met in low income communities. We decided to comebine our professional areas of expertise (Chanda in healthcare and Ravi in education), to make those our two primary areas of focus. Finally, we realized that the easiest place to begin to serve the community is right at home and wanted to focus on the U.S. in addition to India.
Our goal in starting REACH IN US is to make it possible for our supporters to experience the joy that comes from making a positive impact on lives of those who are not as fortunate as we are. Through this foundation, we hope to utilize the skills and energy of a motivated group of volunteers. In being a part of the REACH IN US Foundation, supporters and volunteers will experience a deep sense of kinship that comes from working together towards our common goal: to improve the lives of those around us.
OUR TEAM
Chanda Athale
Since her first visit in 2006, she continues to make annual trips to Anandwan and Hemalkasa where she volunteers in different clinics. Her various responsibilities have included assisting with surgeries, wound care of leprosy patients, sex education lectures for school, and spending time with the elderly residents. Chanda has served as the principle liaison for Maharogi Sewa Samiti (parent organization of Anandwan and Hemalkasa) in the US. In addition, she has volunteered at Society for Education, Action and Research in Community Health (SEARCH) established by Drs. Abhay and Rani Bang, recipients of Padmashree awarded by President of India in January 2018. (https://searchforhealth.ngo ). Chanda has also enjoyed volunteering in free clinics in the Northern Virginia/D.C. area.
Ravi Athale
Ravi has served for 20 years as a mentor for students from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. In addition, he has worked on a project to develop curriculum for an Engineering course for high school students. This course has been taught in many states in US and around the world. He has also delivered public interest lectures in science and technology at George Mason University Institute for Life Long Learning. His passion and commitment to education has remained a constant throughout his career.
Sharayu Tulpule
Throughout her career at UTC, Sharayu had been a strong advocate of diversity efforts and was a liaison for minority and women’s colleges and professional organizations such as Society of Women Engineers. Sharayu has been involved in various community organizations including Connecticut coalition against domestic violence, SNEHA (a network organization for South Asian women), Maharashtra Foundation, and had put together a web portal for Jnan Prabodhini in Pune, India that provides science and technology content to children in rural areas in their native languages.
Raj Patil
Raj has a Master of Science (M.S.) degree in Chemical Engineering from Michigan Technological University (MTU). He is also a graduate of the Harvard Business School’s (HBS) Owner President Management Program (OPM 42). He is a licensed Professional Engineer (P.E.) in the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, Utah, and Wyoming.
Raj is an active member in the local Washington D.C. community, mentoring a number of technology & engineering start-up firms and entrepreneurs. He serves on the advisory board for The
Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE DC) in addition to serving on the board of a number of other companies and organizations (Harvard Business School DC Club) as well. Raj and his wife Sangita reside in Great Falls, Virginia. He is an avid runner who has completed twelve marathon runs for various charities across the US. His philanthropic interests include aiding and providing educational opportunities to under privileged children across the world.
Ajit Gupte
In addition to his professional work, Ajit has been extensively involved in local community organizations such as Marathi Kala Mandal serving in executive committees in various roles during the past 25 years. He has been a founding member of Friends of Anandwan, the organization that preceded REACH IN US. He has been active in volunteer activities for REACH IN US such as preparing and serving food at the shelters and tutoring children from low-resources families.