“People don’t know the value of pennies, and so often don’t bother saving the pennies. We decided to collect pennies and use them to help the needy children in Nepal,” explains Amrit Ramudamu, 32. Ramudamu is one of the 14 founding members of the organization.[break]
Till date, the organization has donated books, sports gears and educational materials worth more than 3,000 pounds to nine institutes in Kaski, Gorkha, Kailali, Tanahu, Pokhara and Kathmandu.
A child carrying a pot requests donations of pennies in the UK. (L) Two microscopes provided by A Penny for Nepal to Shree Gram Sewa Secondary School in Dharmasthali, Kathmandu on June 14.
Bhumeshwor Secondary School in Kaski received 13 white boards and ink refills, Gyanmarga Higher Secondary School in Gorkha was given stationery supplies, Pashupati Higher Secondary School in Lalitpur received books for its library, Baudhik Disable Society also from Lalitpur received sports gears and musical instruments, Dipendra Secondary School from Kailali got white board and science lab equipment, Melghatti Lower Secondary School in Kailali also got educational materials, library books were given to Saraswati Sadan Secondary School in Tanahu and Shivashakti Kalyani Kendra Bal Ashram in Pokhara received 400 pounds to cover the living expenses of students.
Funds are collected in two ways; membership and pot collection. Members of the group try to contribute at least one pound every month. Pots are provided to members who collect pennies and hand them over to the organization after a couple of months.
Along with Ramudamu, his friends Bal Krishna Dahal, Subin Gurung, Arjun Singh, Indra Chhetri and Ganga Gurung are actively involved in running the organization. Apart from them, there are also 200 members who make contributions every month.
The group discusses projects during their board meetings. “Most of the project ideas come from our members and we request them to prepare project details, including necessary funding. We discuss them during the meeting and the projects are approved depending on their importance to children and also our funding capacity,” says Ramudamu.
If a proposal is approved by the meeting, the person who floats the idea is responsible for overseeing the project and providing the members with regular updates. The organization works under a transparent policy.
Shree Gram Sewa Secondary School in Dharmasthali, Kathmandu recently received lab equipment for science and sports gears from the organization.
Yogendra Neupane, a mathematics teacher at the school, says, “When we approached them, they told us they wanted to offer something lasting to the students. Since the total sum to be donated was around Rs 25,000, the school drew up a list of things important to its students. After holding discussions with other teachers, we requested two microscopes, four volleyballs, two volleyball nets, five footballs, five basketballs, five sets of badminton racquets, five sets of table tennis paddles and five sets of table tennis balls.”
Sarbina Upadhaya, a member of A Penny for Nepal and currently in the country, was present during the event. She says that the organization assesses the need before making any such contribution to schools. “Since we focus on disadvantaged children, we prioritize the really needy ones. During the event, the school also appealed to the organization for scholarship to its students but we will have to see if we can finance such scholarships.”
Sarbina is also interested in helping 148 young children from Bal Mandir in Naxal. “Very recently I read this news piece about how the orphans have not been getting proper food, and I believe this is a just cause to do something for.”
A Penny for Nepal has a new goal. It aims to complete six projects in a year. The organization is planning to provide books to two schools in Doti as its next project.
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