THE BACKGROUND
Pediatric (ie for children) cataract is a leading cause of childhood blindness. Most of us do not even realise that children also get cataract. Its caused because of genetic defects, inflections to mum during pregnancy, and injury to the eye after birth.
If untreated cataract in children leads to blindness and this causes severe emotional damage to the child and family. Luckily this problem can be treated with early identification and appropriate management.
Usha Kiran Hospital (located in Mysore) does these surgeries for free for rural folk across Karnataka. The cost of doing these surgeries is just INR 25000. This ensures a child does not go blind and has a lifetime of sight.
Through this crowdfunding campaign, I aim to raise INR 12500 or more and part fund or full fund a surgery. The more we raise the more children can benefit. So continue funding this campaign even after it goes past the goal.
The money raised will be used to provide cataract surgeries for children in rural Karnataka - Raichur, Koppal, Vijayapura, Bellary, Gadag, Mandya, Mysore, Bagalkot etc.
IF YOU FUND,
INR 12500, you part fund a surgery.
INR 25000, you impact one child.
INR 50000, you impact 2 children.
All funding has 80G tax benefits.
ABOUT ME
My name is GUNIKA VARMA. I am 16 years old and in Grade11th at DPS Electronic City, Bangalore.
Pediatric cataract is a leading cause of childhood blindness. I did not know that. I really cannot imagine what it is to go blind at a very young age. That sounds terrible and traumatic.
Luckily it can be treated. However, those in villages and from low-income homes often cannot afford surgery or do not realise that their child has a problem. The folks at USHA KIRAN regularly do eye camps to identify this problem. The fact that an amount of just INR 25000 can make a difference in the life of someone and give them back their sight made me realise that I must do something to help.
Surgery for cataracts does not just restore the vision of a child for them but literally gives them a fresh lease on life. Through this campaign, I aim to raise INR 12500 or more.
I strongly believe that we can help those who are needy and in the process, transform their lives. Please support my campaign and let us together bring light into the lives of these children. I would like to raise much more than my goal and help more children see again. The Gift of Sight is the Gift of Life truly.
CAMPS BEING CONDUCTED AT SCHOOLS
BENEFICIARIES ARE ACROSS KARNATAKA
ABOUT THE HOSPITAL
USHA KIRAN CHARITABLE TRUST(R), is based out of Mysore, Karnataka and has been impacting and improving lives for 24 years now. Our focus is on childhood blindness which includes cataracts at birth or young age, Traumatic cataracts, Squinting, droopy lids, Tear sac blocks at birth, rarely high eye pressure resulting in glaucoma in childhood, and Life-threatening Retinal tumors.
In the last 14 plus years, we have screened over 450,000 children, through children's vision screening programs, provided over 12,000 spectacles, and done over 750 major eye surgeries ( all under general anesthesia) through outreach work as well as through in-house work. These surgeries for tiny kids mean lots of expenses for consumables for eye surgery, anesthesia, safety, hospitalisation, post-operative medications, post-surgery care, and the professional fee of anesthetists, eye surgeons, etc.
ABOUT ROTARY CLUB OF E-CITY
A group of Passionate Rotarians joined hands together to start a new club on 10th June, 2011, called the Rotary eClub of Bangalore. The club consists of Professional from all industry like Finance, Healthcare, Human Resources, Educationalists etc. The first club President was Rtn Ashis Dutta and was followed by veterans Industrialists like Rtn V Veerappan, Rtn Asha Nair, Rtn Mahesh Iyer, Rtn Manu Channappa, Rtn Subramaniam etc.
The club is very popular in the district for its consistent projects year on year like Growing Up Right an Booklet for Adolescent girls, the book has been translated to Kannada, Telegu and Tamil Languages, The club has also donated a machine for detecting early hearing problems in Infants. The Club has specially focused itself to Women Heath and detecting of severe illness. Avoidable blindness is a key program for the club and helps the under privileged on cataract surgeries, pediatric surgeries, Spectacles for children and poor. We have also done global grant projects of Rotary. Apart from this the club creates awareness on Anti tobacco, Mental health, Disease prevention etc..
The Current year the Rtn Kavitha Subramaniam is serving as the president and steering projects for the betterment of the society. Mrs Anupama Ramachandra - Principal of DPS Electronic City , will be the president of the club next year.
TAX BENEFITS:
Funding for this campaign is eligible for tax breaks as USHA KIRAN HOSPITAL is a registered NGO and you can avail of benefits under section 80G of IT act.
FEEDBACK
To ensure that there is complete transparency I shall get a report from NGO (this takes between 2 to 4 months usually after the funds are raised and transferred to them) telling me who benefitted from the funding. The details will then be posted on the UPDATES section of my campaign. As soon as I post an update, the platform will send an EMAIL alert to all the funders - i.e. to you. Click on the link on the email and you can read about who benefitted. That's transparent right.
The below image is an example of the FEEDBACK FORMAT that we will be shared with all my funders.
FAQs
Will we get to know the details of who benefitted?
Yes. After the money has been collected it will be transferred by Fueladream to USHA KIRAN HOSPITAL.They will update you on the details of how the money was spent as soon as possible. Once we get this information we shall upload a report on the UPDATES section of this campaign. You will then get an alert and can read details about where the money is being spent.
When do I get the receipts?
The receipts will start getting processed about 4 to 6 weeks AFTER the campaign is closed and will be sent to you directly.
How can we fund this campaign with a Cheque?
Fueladream Online Ventures Pvt Ltd account details are as below:
BANK NAME: HDFC Bank Limited.
BRANCH: Koramangala( Main Branch). City: Bengaluru - 560095.
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 50200013106778
IFSC CODE: HDFC0000053
Please draw a cheque in favor of "Fueladream Online Ventures Pvt Ltd", and deposit the cheque into the Fueladream Online Ventures Pvt Ltd HDFC Bank account (any branch across INDIA). After you deposit the cheque, please send an email to prasad@fueladream.com AND getintouch@fueladream.com with the following funder information.
1) Name of Funder:
2) Full address with Pin code:
3) Telephone/Mobile no and Email ID:
4) PAN of funder:
5) Cheque number:
6) Amount funded:
7) Whose campaign are you funding. (Name of the person OR campaign number/ID):
After the funds are received and the above details are verified, the fund amount will be transferred to the respective campaign. This can take from 1-3 working days.
How does crowdfunding work?
Crowdfunding in India is a relatively new concept and is growing very quickly.
It’s a concept that allows a large number of funders (like you) to fund an idea or a cause or event by giving small amounts of money online. Fueladream.com is a crowdfunding platform in India that allows for such pooling of funds. You can fund innovations and ideas on FuelADream and be the first to get these products or make them come true. You can also do a good turn by funding charities and causes through crowdfunding.
