Last year I made a decision that I wanted to make a difference and help raise money for a cause I believed in. I ran the DC marathon for ASHA, a non-profit that contributes their funds to projects throughout India that help those less fortunate than ourselves.

As this year began I wanted to see if I could do it all over again but in a different way. This year I will be running the New York City Marathon but for a non-profit I am currently starting. You read that correctly and here’s how the story goes. My mother, Asha Soni, contributes all of her earnings on an annual basis as a teacher to an all girls school in India (more on that below). She only mentioned this to me last year but as she told me the story I couldn’t help but become more drawn to the cause. With her help and the help of a few friends, I have begun the process of creating a Non-Profit organization called Girls Can 2. The organization will look to raise funds to help provide materials and facilities needed to educate girls across India.

The background to how this all began:

Mr. Prem Singh Sodhi taught for 40 years in an all boys’ school in his village of Kharar (Chandigarh). He was pained to know that girls of that area were not getting any education, as there were no schools for them.

To make this wrong a right, at the age of 60, Mr. Sodhi single handedly started an elementary school for girls in the basement of a local temple. To finance the project, he contributed his retirement savings, collected money from friends and old students of his along with his well placed sons. One of his sons was the President of my mothers college, which is how she became involved.

At present there are 525 girls that attend the school, of which 265 are extremely poor and live in rural Punjab (North India). The school ranges from grades one to twelve and covers English, Math, Science, Social Studies, Computer education, Punjabi and Hindi. Currently the school lacks a tremendous amount of funding because the government of Punjab, India has FROZEN its grant to the school.

This is where Girls Can 2 comes in. This is not a stand alone case in India and I think it is important to help educate those regardless of gender, race, or religion. The organization will look to help fund various schools throughout India that are in a similar situation, and there are several.

Please help support this cause by making contributions to the organization. Again, ALL PROCEEDS, go directly to these schools.

My pledge for the Marathon (26.2miles)

Last year I completed the DC Marathon in 3 hrs 43 min and set an ASHA record for their NYC chapter.  The NYC Marathon is more difficult and this year as my goal, I will look to beat my previous time in DC. You read that correctly !!!!