Asha (Hope) is a volunteer run non-profit that raises funds for the education of underprivileged children in India. The goal is to lift people out of poverty by empowering them through education.Â
Asha is a zero-overhead organization, which means that every donated dollar reaches education projects in India. Asha has a four star rating (highest possible) from Charity Navigator. This is partly because of the unique overhead policy and the fully volunteer driven, organisation structure.
I studied in Sainik School from 1988 to 1995 . I used to be a 400 meters and 800 meters sprinter during my school days. Being in residential school all my life up to post graduation, I was in touch with almost all sports, including cross country races, but never passionate about one sports in particular. Football was something I enjoyed most among all sports.
After starting my career in IT, sports almost went away from my life. It was again in 2011 due to health reason I wanted to start running. Initially I never thought that I can ever do long distance running. I searched for running groups around me and met few passionate runners. That is when I realized that running a long distance is more of a mental preparedness and some strength training. The journey started with the Mumbai marathon in Jan 2012. First long distance of my life started with a full marathon. I struggled to complete the marathon. After completing I found myself as a much stronger person. A belief started kindling inside me that I can be a marathoner. However, I did not just want to train myself. I wanted everyone around me to realize that even they can win distance if they trusted themselves.
I started motivating people in my office and neighborhood to join me in my morning runs. This in turn disciplined me and helped me meet and learn from many runners. With amazing company, I saw myself on the road for hours and hours covering miles and miles.
In the winter of 2013, I accepted an offer from Reebok who approached me to be a coach in their running organization called – Reebok Running Squad. I have trained more than 100 people to run long distance. With step by step training, we could scale both distance and speed.
In November 2014, I ran a distance of 130KM from my home town to my school, as a mark of respect to the 50th raising day of my alma mater.
I had moved to USA in November 2015. I continued my runs but limited to short distance. One day, somewhere in June 2016 I had visited the Creve Coeur Lake with my office colleagues, when I met Santosh who introduced me to the Asha group. That’s when I found my lost running group. A running group which is also focused on community service. I hope each step I take towards my health contributes towards someone’s life as well.
Please choose Asha as your charity of choice this year and support the cause as well as support my run . Your contribution is an important motivator for me to go farther and faster! No amount is too small.
Alternatively, mail cheques payable to:
“Asha for Education“ with
“Utpal – Team Asha St. Louis 2017”
printed in the memo to: Asha for Education, St. Louis Chapter PO Box 398080 San Francisco, CA 94139-8080