2015 was a successful year thanks to your support! Thanks to you and the time, money, and resources you donate to our organization, each day we get closer to achieving our goals and mission! In 2015 we have continued support for our various programs:
$1,100 Grant for all-year school lunch program ensuring no child is hungry while learning
Meet the Author Event
by Ruhika Prasad
Author Lalitha Ram reading from her novel, Megha: Two Worlds Within
The promotion of literacy is important to REAL as an organization because one of our fundamental goals is to give educational opportunities for rural children in all parts of India who lack this outlet for learning. One of the key components of education and schooling is reading, and we try to raise awareness of the low literacy rate in rural India, in order to change this in the future. In accordance with this goal, REAL hosted a book launch event with local author Lalitha Ram in early March of 2015.
During the event, Lalitha Ram read excerpts from her novel, Megha: Two Worlds Within, a story centered on a young Indian woman transitioning from her life in India to America. The novel itself is very pertinent to our organization, as we are volunteers from America trying to help students in India. Her book is available on Amazon or in most local bookstores; and a portion of the proceeds were donated to REAL. In this event, we also hosted a bookmark-making session, where the attendees made bookmarks from colored paper, stamps and markers, all of which were supplied by our volunteers. These bookmarks were donated to the Bezos foundation as part of their Students Rebuild Program.
REAL at the Portland Marathon
by Rashmi Anil
The REAL: Youth To Youth Team volunteering at the Portland Marathon
In early October, REAL: Youth to Youth volunteered at the Portland Marathon. The Portland Marathon welcomes volunteers from local charities and nonprofits. Our volunteers had fun, worked together and benefited from being involved in a great community event. We helped with giving out food to the runners and clean up afterwards. At the end of the marathon, we helped put away tables and equipment by the finish line.
Our volunteers had a tremendous amount of fun welcoming and cheering on the runners. After the marathon was over, REAL took on the task of transporting the leftover food to the Portland Rescue Mission who was happy to receive it. We delivered more than 4 pallets (6-7 cars loads!) of food. REAL is planning to coordinate with the organizers of the Portland Marathon to take on the task of donating the leftover food to the Rescue Mission every year!
Bookmarks for Literacy
by Aparna Jayakumar
REAL Volunteer Aparna educates the students on our mission
In congruence with our mission to promote global literacy, REAL participated in the Bookmarks for Literacy through the organization Students Rebuild. Every handmade bookmark mailed to Students Rebuild was matched by the Bezos Family Foundation for a dollar towards Save the Children's Literacy Boost program, which helps build libraries, train teachers, and provides other literacy oriented activities in South America, Africa and Asia.
In order to not only support global education, but also to promote its importance to our community, we decided to host a bookmark making session at Jacob Wismer Elementary School's Art and Literacy Night, with the goal of making 500 bookmarks. In addition, we brought REAL brochures to inform others on our mission and the importance of education. Overall, the event was a great success! Not only did we fulfill our 500 bookmark goal, we also had the opportunity to interact with some very creative kids and to continue to promote literacy locally.
India Day 2015
by Maya Bedge
REAL Volunteers Maya and Satish set up REAL's India Day booth
This past August, REAL hosted its booth at the annual India Day Festival at Pioneer Square. Our booth was a REAL success! By expanding our used clothes sale, and spreading the word about illiteracy in India, our team continued to be a voice for our movement. Not only did our visitors have a blast at our booth, but our volunteers also enjoyed the event! From dawn to dusk, our hardworking REAL volunteers sold clothes, did mehndi, sold water bottles, and most of all had a blast! Throughout the day, old and new volunteers pitched in to keep the booth running and raised money for our cause. 100% of the proceeds from this event went to supporting literacy in India.
We are eagerly looking forward to the next India Day and we hope to see you there too! Want to volunteer at exciting events like these? Contact us at contact@realyouth.org!
Senior Send-Off
by Maya Bedge
Seniors Anika, Charvi, and Sonya at the senior send-off
In June of this year, our team had to say goodbye to many of the beloved seniors on our team. All of the seniors on REAL's board have contributed so much to our organization and it was very hard to let them go. Though they have formally left our organization, our seniors still unrelentingly contribute to REAL at every opportune moment. With best wishes from our board members, and a yummy cake for their last board meeting, our seniors were off to college! Our board would like to thank the graduating seniors: Sonya Bedge, Charvi Bhargava, Anika Raghuvanshi, Varsha Kalavar, Divya Sridharan, Anisha Malynur, Inca Gunter, and Mukund Raguram for helping our organization grow and spreading the REAL's mission wherever they go!
Upcoming Events
REAL's Annual Bollywood Dance Party: On February 19th, 2016 at the Christ United Methodist Church from 8 to 11 P.M. Tickets are $10. See you there!
We are very proud to recognize and thank our sponsoring partners!
GOLD SPONSOR $251+
SILVER SPONSOR $101 - $250
BRONZE SPONSOR $50 - $100
Dr. Jacqueline Bourdette, D.M.D., P.C
Nova Travel
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