Since 2008, Starfish has teamed up with Asha for Education to host an annual fundraising event in the Hartford, CT area called Celebrate India, a summer cultural festival dedicated to showcasing India’s traditions and trends.

Celebrate India! offers a variety of activities including a cricket demo, Indian cuisine, music, dancing, vendors, and demonstrations of Indian art such as henna tattoos and Rangoli, and a Bollywood Exhibit. Other recreational activities include a volleyball tournament, arts and crafts, and children’s games.

Other Hartford area fundraising events jointly hosted by Starfish and Asha include a Holi festival dinner and Bhangra dance night, and a talent show at the University of Connecticut, known as Beats of Hope.

Starfish’s partner in the these events, Asha for Education is an international, secular charitable organization, which is dedicated to the support of the basic education of underprivileged children in India and raising social awareness of their plight. Asha, which means “hope,” believes that education is the most effective means to solve the problems of poverty, population explosion and bring about long-term socio-economic change.

To learn more about Asha and the partnership with Starfish, visit CelebrateIndia.org

In 2008, a group of UCONN students created the ASHA for Education UCONN chapter in Storrs, CT.  Over the past 2 years, since its start up, these UCONN students have raised over $1,500 for the D.F Blind School through the annual fundraiser, “Beats of Hope” which proved to be successful in 2009 and 2010.

“Beats of Hope” was created by students who wanted to give other UCONN students the chance to showcase their many talents in front of their fellow students as a means to create awareness. With the help of many students, namely Mayuri Patel, Bijal Patel, Sneha Parikh, Kartik Patel, Nisha Odedra, Ram Odedra, Parag Bhuva, Vaishali Patel, Purbita Saha, Himink Gucpa, this event was made possible.

All sorts of performers participated such as tap dancers, Irish step dancers, guitarists, singers, A capella groups, hip hop, Kickline, etc. It was a huge turn out and a very exciting and fun night! We are looking forward to the upcoming event which will be held on December 3, 2010 in the Jorgensen theater on the UCONN Storrs Campus. A capella group “Penn Masala” will be performing to support the Starfish Children’s Fund and the ASHA UCONN chapter.

The Starfish Children’s Fund is honored to have the support of the Gamma Gamma Chapter of Pi Sigma Epsilon (PSE) at Miami University of Ohio!  For the past three years PSE has contributed a portion of their philanthropic efforts to helping us achieve our goal of bringing education to children who need it most.  We thank them for all their hard work.

Penn Masala, the world’s first Hindi a capella group, will be performing at the University of Connecticut on December 3rd in support of The Starfish Children’s Fund.  More details to follow!

Starfish Award given to the students of Franklin Avenue Middle School for their participation in the fundraiser bake sake

The sixth grade students of the Franklin Avenue Middle School in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey learn about ancient India, and as an extension of this study, the students participate in a fundraising drive that raises money for the D.F. Blind School. The students hold bake sales, make and sell chocolate lollipops, and make and distribute collection containers to local businesses.   The sixth graders have been able to raise over $17,000 over the last six years. This project has been a meaningful experience for these students and has provided them an opportunity to help others who do not enjoy their many advantages.  They are proud to have made a difference!