As a child, Mr. Sridhar  was deprived of education and other facilities due to his immobility. But now, Maithri, a charitable trust focusing on the education of rural poor children, is run by this remarkable man: Sridhar, a polio victim. This dynamic man has achieved from his wheel chair far more than any average person. With the urge in him to help those of his kind, to give them the education he was deprived of, Shridhar and a few friends started Maithri Educational & Charitable Trust.

Formed in the year 1991, the objective of the Trust is to provide educational assistance to meritorious poor students, who would otherwise be forced into child labour. The beneficiaries are academically strong students from poor families. So far, more than 250 have benefited through Maithri, 10 of whom are Engineers, well settled in the US & the Middle East. Sridhar says: "Education is a liberating force and it's also a democratizing force cutting across the barriers of caste, creed & class, smoothing inequalities imposed by birth and other circumstances"

Maithri's vision states "The salient feature of our future project includes setting up a model school for the poor & the disabled. Apart from providing a high standard of education, we intend on providing an infrastructure without architectural barriers for the handicapped as well as a well connected transport facility & integrate the disabled into the mainstream life right from start."

The major funding for education and other projects as listed below comes from Mr. Sridhar's earnings as an accomplished Astrologer.  The rest is covered by individual donations. HCI has been funding the education of 20 to 25 children since 2002. All projects are offered free of cost to the beneficiaries. Maithiri's activities are as follows:

School & Medical:

• Expenses per month for elementary school - Rs 500.00
• Expenses per month for higher education - Rs.650.00
• Computer education per month -Rs. 400.00
• Medicines for a mentally retarded child per month - Rs 350.00
• Aids & appliances for the disabled

Maithri maintains a free audio cassette library that contains the University Syllabus from various Universities in Tamil Nadu, India. This library is maintained especially for the visually impaired students.

Maithri also rehabilitates victims of natural calamities like earthquake, cyclones etc. They rush their volunteers for the relief operations with groceries, medicines, clothes, utensils etc to be distributed to the hapless victims. Volunteers return only after life is restored to normalcy.

Other projects include a computer centre (100 beneficiaries); a tailoring institute (300 beneficiaries); providing aids and appliances to the disabled, hearing impaired, blind etc. (300 beneficiaries); health camps (1000 beneficiaries), and cataract surgeries (100 beneficiaries).

You may assist by purchasing tools for individuals enroilled in Maithri including callipers (Rs.1000.00 or CDN $33 each), hearing aids (Rs.800.00 or CDN $27), wheel chairs (Rs.1800.00 or CDN $60), hand cycles (Rs.2000.00 or CDN $67), spectacles (Rs.500.00 or CDN $17), or tailoring machines (Rs.3,600.00 or CDN $20).

You can also donate in the form of clothes, note books, medicines, braille books, braille typewriter, braille slates etc. Maithri's contact information is as follows:

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Spastics Society of India, Chennai started this school for children with mental disabilities in 1991 as one of the "Community Based Rehabilitation " projects. They gave the mothers of these children with special training in Physio-Therapy, Speech-Therapy and special education. Now, it is run independently with support of donors. More information about Nesam may be found here.

Established in 1971, by the devotees of Sri Ramakrishna, the school operated in  cramped, rented houses for fifteen years. Today the institution has its own building. The school is dedicated to educating  poor rural children. The address is as follows:

Swami Vivekananda Education Society
Banashankari 1st Stage,
Bangalore - 560 050
India

The home for orphan children and destitute women was first started in 1936 by the dedicated and devoted couple Smt. Rajeevi Bai and Sri S. Shiva Rao with the assistance and Initiative of SrI G.C. Malik from Punjab. The primary objective of Seva Sadan is to provide the basic needs to orphan children and destitute women via. food, clothing & shelter besides imparting the minimum education to grade 10, so as to enable them to earn a living independently and lead an honest and honorable life. The address is as follows:

Seva Sadan
14th Cross Road,
Malleswaram, Bangalore-560 003
India

Sri Ramakrishna Math, located in Chennai, is the first branch of the Ramakrishna Math in South India. The Math started this charitable Dispensary in 1925 to render service to the poor and helpless patients in and around the locality. The late Rao Sahet Dr. B. Raghavendra Rao, retired civil surgeon, placed his voluntary services at the disposal of the institution and undertook to meet the entire recurring expenditure of the work. The devoted and self-sacrificing service of other eminent doctors as well as devotees have enabled this dispensary to grow into a very useful center of medical relief and diagnostics. During its first year in functioning the total number of patients treated was only 970, whereas in the year 1999-2000 the number was 264 134. The address is as follows:

Sri Ramakrishna Math
Mylapore, Chennai -600 004
India

Phone: 91-44-24621110
Fax: 91-44-24934589
Website: http://www.sriramakrishnamath.org