By Marissa Choudhury and Sid S. Yousuf

On August 22, 2015, the Adhunika Jr. team went to the Chat Pati Mela Fundraising Event in Queens, New York to launch their first fundraising event. There, the team thought of many different ways to help Project Amrao Manush (We are Human too), a project dedicated to getting street children in Bangladesh  temporary shelters, food, clothing, and education.

We started selling items, such as bracelets and photos (Sid’s Photos – sky & the kid), to help raise some money. Along with this we sold some sweet treats, like cookies, brownies, and lemonade, to aid in the development of the project. If they chose, the supporters could also simply donate to the cause. When people came to our table, we gave them a brief description of Project Amrao Manush and our contribution to it. We received a considerable amount of positive feedback, generating more volunteers and donations.

Jihan Saba who helped during the event said: “It was an amazing experience to see how enthusiastic and aware the children were about their responsibility as human beings to be at the service of ones in need. They all came up with innovative ways for raising funds.”

We’ve made significant progress and so gained the interest of many, from a variety of age groups. A lot people came to our table, and we thanked all those people who donated and bought from us. It was a HUGE success! In total, we have raised enough money to support 3 children. After all that, we felt very proud of ourselves, and we can’t wait for the next big event we are going to do.

READ THE COMMENTS FROM THE TEAM ADHUNIKA JR.:

“The reason I started Adhunika Jr, was that when I visited the homeless children in the project Amrao Manush, I saw the way they live and heard their stories, such as a child named Nasim who is 10 years old and is in grade 3. Nasim studies at the Khan Hassan Government School and has two siblings.  He vows that when he will grow up, he will never let his parents live on the streets again. I thought if we supported the Amrao Manush program it would help more homeless children like Nasim. When we officially started the program, having eleven volunteers at the time, we immediately started to plan our fundraiser. After two weeks of planning we finally had the fundraising. It was a great success! We made over $650! We are now able to help 3 school going children. I feel it was very proficient of our team and I hope we will be able to support many more” –

Sid S. Yousuf, Founder of Adhunika Jr., age 10

“I thought it was very exciting and fun.” – Nora Choudhury, age 6

“I thought that we really made great progress helping Project ‘Amrao Manush’, and I had lots of fun selling and telling customers about Adhunika Jr. and the project Amrao Manush. I felt very proud of myself when we made over $600 in donations.” – Marissa Choudhury, age 11

“I was very excited to work on the posters for Chatpoti Mela. It felt great to be involved in the fundraising event as it will change an underprivileged child’s life in Bangladesh.” -Probha Hasan, age 10

“I believe that the fundraiser was very successful. I do believe that if we do more, such as sell popcorn or create a work of art, we can make a bigger difference.”  Jubair Huq, age 13

“I thought that we did good at the bake sale selling a lot of cookies, brownies, lemonade, bangles and photos. It was also very well planned.” –

Jeeshan Huq, age 11

“I found it gratifying, having an opportunity to aid our organization with my time and I hope to do so again.” – Anamika Huq, Friend of Adhunika

OVERVIEW:

Adhunika Jr. is a team that was created to raise schooling supply money for the Amrao Manush project day care centre. According the Sajida Foundation which manages the project “This daycare service allows working mothers to leave their children, which are 2-6 years old, in a safe environment, while they work to contribute to their family income, the centre also ensures schooling for street children (age 6+)”. The main Adhunika Jr. team works in the US. The team makes most of the funds for the children by holding fundraisers for merchandise and refreshments. In Bangladesh, the Amrao Manush daycare collects the funds that are sent here for school supplies & counseling for the children, which will contribute to schooling the children in the daycare.

GOALS

Currently, we are focusing on 23 different children who live on the streets, and are attempting to give them education for $200 dollars annually. In the future, we will be spreading our focus to different areas, such as acquiring temporary shelters for the more children.