She chose to help women and children in a dump -- literally. Shaheed Nagar is where
Delhi dumps its garbage, and barefoot children pick through the trash there to support their families, most of them headed by women alone. “My original goal was to educate young girls who had no chance to get out of poverty and illiteracy, and, at the same time, to teach their mothers financial independence through a loan to the group,” she says.
Sandy started small, forming a collective of 38 women and loaning them $4,600 to open a grocery store. The money was contingent on the mothers sending their children to school. By mutual agreement, a percentage of the store’s profits went to the school. Today, the school, called Crayons (because it’s a riot of color), has 122 students ages three to nine.
You can’t affect change like this on $15,500 a year unless the locals take it upon themselves to get involved -- which they have. An Indian bank is underwriting two more schools in the larger city of Amroha and in the rural village of Habatpur, but, by and large, it’s the poorest of the poor who use their new profits to help themselves. Sandy was the first to make me understand that nonprofit-world word
sustainability.
“I didn’t go into
India and dig a well and tell everybody to take a drink. I literally took a few women and said, ‘You have the capability of making money on your own without the middlemen,’ “ Sandy says. “Once they made the decision, once they knew they had no choice but to educate their children, it changed their attitude.”
In 2003, she set up the nonprofit CommunitiWorks. The Indian government now provides grant money and wants to spread the model around the country. The first model-based school/clinic/store/resource center just opened in Amroha. (No-nonsense Sandy was flustered that they tossed celebratory marigolds at her for the dedication.)
The great thing is, Sandy isn’t alone. Another AA flier alerted me to
Washington lawyer
Bob Goff, founder and president of Restore International, a company that got started in 2004 by helping Indian girls trapped in the sex trade. Another effort, the Purpose Prize, is awarding over $3.5 million over six years to people older than 60 who tackle problems ranging from “poverty to pollution, recidivism to racial reconciliation, health care to homelessness.” (I adore alliteration, and alliteration for an admirable cause is even better.)
If you made it here, to the end, pat yourself on the back and get going. Help someone today! As Sandy proves, you don’t have to be rich to make a difference.