April 20, 2014: The Chicago community came in large numbers to support a very worthy cause– “The Gift of Education” for the underprivileged children of rural and tribal villages of India–when a musical evening was held at Schaumburg High School Auditorium 1100 W Schaumburg Rd, Schaumburg, IL 60194 on April 5.

Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation Chicago Chapter organized the charity fund-raiser event to provide free education to rural and tribal villages of India.

Vibhavari Yadav and Sunil Menon rendered melodious songs. And with Piyush Bhaat on various musical Instruments, Daxes Patel on tabla, Jaykumar Natu as a percussion player, the two enthralled the audience with unique and entertaining songs with enthusiastic spirit.

Later, a video presentation was given followed by small orientation by Dr Hasmukh Shah, a renowned physician practicing in Sterling (IL), that gave a basic idea about Ekal’s transparent organizational practice and how does it functions in rural and tribal villages .

Ekal exists in almost every state of India with 57,502 schools and serving more than 1.62 million children’s educational needs.

Each year ‘Ekal-USA collects around $4 million) through their fund-raising concerts. In the last few years, Ekal has received numerous prestigious awards and grants, including ‘Best NGO’, for its transparency of operation and outstanding administration.

This year, the generous Chicago community members who had so far raised funds to support 358 schools, particpated in the charity music concert and collected funds to support 582 schools in India.

According to Amrit Mittal, one of the leading donors, Ekal is a transparent organization where 10 % of funding is used for administrative expenses and more than 90% of the funding goes for the actual cause of imparting education. The transparency of this organization has made it a very unique movement.

Ekal is planning to organize a garba event during September this year with a view to creating awareness about its activities.
This year marks 26th year of Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation which has been dispensing 1) Functional literacy 2) Health care training 3) Integrated Village Development and 4) Empowerment education in tribal and remotest rural areas of India, while transpiring localized empowerment never seen before.

The Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation is tax-exempt, registered non-profit service organization dedicated to education and village development in rural India. Ekal’s philosophy is to take a holistic approach to social and economic development and eradication of illiteracy from remote and tribal villages of India.

Harish Doshi thanked all patrons , donors and supporters for their continuous donation towards Ekal’s initiative. With this kind of momentum ‘Ekal’ has gathered in recent years, and over 4,000 selfless volunteers joining hands, its plan to establish 100,000 schools in remote rural areas of India is definitely not a distant dream.