A Successful Launch

While a pooja (religious blessing) was being performed in HLL Lifecare headquarters in Trivandrum, Kerela at the auspicious time of 11:30am-12pm yesterday, LifeSpring Foundation held its first executive committee meeting in Noida.

With senior management from LifeSpring, HLL Lifecare, HLFPPT, and Acumen Fund present, the first executive committee meeting discussed partnerships with HLFPPT to fundraise internationally, as well as more mundane but crucial matters such as the Foreign Contribution Regulatory Act (FCRA).

The highlight of the launch was showing an internal video of the Foundation, along with a demo of our website and page on Global Giving. Our Chairman, Mr. Ayyappan, was the first to pledge a sponsorship -- immediately sponsoring the first woman on our website, C.H. Radha, whose delivery date is this month. Her story?

I am 23 years old. I am a migrant from Nepal who moved to India looking for better opportunities. I now work as the sweeper for the nearby government elementary school. My husband comes from Nepal too; he works with cables. We have two sons. The first was a home delivery and the second was delivered at a government hospital. Our oldest son, Kartik, is five years old. We can't afford school fees, so he has not been to class in four months. My husband's salary is not stable, so that's why we can't always afford school fees. On average, we make around Rs 100 per day. Our rent for this house is Rs 800 per month.

Soon after Mr. Ayyappan's personal pledge, the CFO of HLL Lifecare pledged to sponsor ten women on behalf of HLL. After the meeting, another HLL executive handed us our first check to sponsor one woman. We are also grateful to Acumen Fund, who earlier had pledged Rs 10 lakhs (~$22,000 USD) for institution-building of the Foundation.