Guru Krupa Foundation (GKF) understands that young girls from the remote villages of Odisha are facing many challenges. Gender bias and social stigmas due to Odisha’s age-old patriarchal system, coupled with extreme poverty, poor water & sanitation, and a lack of medical care, is a way of life for most Odia girls. Natural disaster, poisonous snakes, dowry, unwanted arranged marriages, and domestic violence are commonplace. Many families suffer from mental health problems including drug & alcohol abuse, domestic violence, and suicide. Government benefits often do not reach the most vulnerable.
Odisha’s 1,000 year old town of Cuttack is where Grassroots India has created a residential vocational and life skill training center, a safe haven for rural girls 17-26 years of age. The Hariharananda Vocational Training Center, and its extended W.I.S.H. Network (Women’s Independent Self-Help), provide training, employment, and shared housing opportunities. Medical aid is also offered for short stays to accommodate doctor visits, diagnostic testing, transportation, and meals for needy families.
We are excited to announce GKF’s support for a one-year residential training program for 15-20 girls in 2025! Students selected from troubled or low-income families will now be provided with free hostel, food, and training. Since 2018, GKF has been contributing vital support to the upliftment of hundreds of girls and their families. What is even more fantastic is that the change agents are the girls themselves, the family’s daughters.
Guru Krupa Foundation is a private foundation, based in the State of New York, and follows a holistic approach to charitable giving. Their emphasis has been on Social Welfare, Higher Education, Spirituality, Arts & Culture, and the Environment. Since 2008, Hariharananda Vocational Training Center has addressed these topics in its daily curriculum and village advocacy. With a shared philosophy of providing equal opportunity for all, and instilling the youth with vocational and life skills, GKF and Grassroots India hope to make a permanent difference, now and in future generations.
Grassroots India offers its heartfelt thanks for GKF’s unwavering support for empowering our students!
Please read more about Guru Krupa Foundation at www.guru-krupa.org and see the many projects that they support both in the US and India.
