Following the colorful cultural celebrations of Sanskriti and Silsilay, the American-Indo Student Association will be donating tickets and concessions revenue to the India Literacy Project, a nonprofit organization that helps students in India without access to adequate education.
Silsilay and Sanskriti are some of Lynbrook’s biggest ethnic events, bringing students from all over the district to celebrate together and watch dance performances by cultural dance teams from all over the Bay Area. AISA hosts these events annually to celebrate Indian culture and generate funds for various charities.
This year, AISA will donate $10,000 to the ILP, which will utilize these funds to purchase school materials, hire teachers and enroll children in school in India. The ILP’s prior projects have impacted numerous cities in India, notably Chennai and Bangalore, by bringing science kits and new teachers to underserved students in these areas.
“The impact of a lot of what we do isn’t really measurable,” junior and ILP volunteer director Apurva Sistla said. “But we know that we’re making a difference for those 10 or 20 kids who get better science equipment.”
AISA began its partnership with the ILP in 2022. However, due to the cancellation of Silsilay in 2022, AISA was not able to donate to the ILP like they had wanted that year. This year, they’ve decided to resume their original plan and leverage their proceeds from Silsilay and Sanskriti in 2023 and 2024 to foster greater educational opportunities for students in India.
“Three out of my four grandparents were only educated up to eighth-grade standards,” senior and AISA co-president Athreya Iyer said. “So the fact that there’s an organization working to educate people further and make them something greater than they could be otherwise is really great.”
The majority of the club’s proceeds come from food and ticket sales, which AISA collects for donation. AISA is able to donate $10,000 from their 2023 and 2024 event proceeds, and the donation will be processed once the 2025 Silsilay ends. From 2025 Silsilay alone, AISA expects to raise a total of approximately $9,000, which they hope to utilize in a second donation of $5,000 to $10,000 to the ILP.
“When we reached out to the ILP, they told us the thought that we wanted to donate was good enough for them,” junior and treasurer Riddhi Maharana said. “I thought that was sweet.”
The ILP plans to split AISA’s donation of $10,000 into different aspects of their initiatives. $5,000 will be put toward providing science kits for 5,000 students. $2,500 will be put toward setting up libraries in 10 schools. The last $2,500 dollars will be towards training 1,000 teachers on utilizing the science kits in classrooms and career guidance for their students.
“What stood out to the previous officers about ILP is the fact that they’re working to educate people in India and bring literacy rates up,” Iyer said.
In the future, AISA plans to continue donating to the ILP, with a goal of making donations twice a year. The AISA officers encourage other clubs on campus to follow suit and support charities around the world.
“Donating is really rewarding, and it makes us a lot more passionate about planning our event,” senior and AISA co-president Kimaya Pantvaidya said. “It makes it all worth it.”
