Message from Ram:

Dear Friends,
I have had the good fortune to be a volunteer with the Association for India's Development (AID), a voluntary non-profit organization, for the past several years. AID, true to its philosophy of holistic development, supports and promotes self-sustaining initiatives in education, health, livelihood issues and empowerment of women and the needy that engender locally generated solutions to a whole compass of interconnected problems. AID has dedicated volunteers and associate non-profit grassroot organizations working on projects all over India. Please visit http://www.aidindia.org to learn more about its activities.
   
This year, I have the opportunity to participate in what has recently been one of AID's most successful fundraising ventures, namely, individuals training for and running in a marathon. I have been training for the past 3 months (and will be doing so for the next two months) to run the Philadephia marathon in November. For those who know me, this is something that is completely outside the realm of my usual athletic endeavors, and capabilities, if my own beliefs till recently were any guide. But, surprise, surprise, here I am, doing this and believing that I can run the whole 26.2 miles.

The goal is to raise $100 for every mile I run. The money will go towards funding development projects in India coordinated by the Princeton AID chapter. I request your generous support for this noble cause. Specific projects that the Princeton chapter supports (and is considering supporting) can be found at http://princeton.aidindia.org . Please donate generously for this cause.

PS: All donations to AID are 100% tax-deductible, under section 501(c)(3) of the IRS code. AID received the highest possible 4-star rating from charity navigator, America's largest independent evaluator of charities. AID has practically zero overhead costs, i.e., all the money you donate go directly towards funding the projects.