Support Literacy Spree: A Desert Mountain High School Sophomore’s Mission
In 2009, when I was ten years old, I visited one of the
all-girl orphanages in Lucknow, India. As I made my way through the orphanage building, I found scores of young girls clustered on the floor scribbling into workbooks and homework sheets. I stopped beside a young girl and knelt down.
“
Why don’t you study at your desk? You will be able to focus better,” I suggested in my broken Hindi, flipping through her workbook. She laughed, looking up at me,
“This isn’t America. Considering that they don’t have enough money to pay our tuition, I don’t think buying us desks is their top priority.”
Long after I left the orphanage and had returned to America, I fo
und myself, repeatedly, asking the same question, “Why do they not have the option to go to college?" Upon talking further to the girls and orphanage staff, I learned about the lack of support offered to the students. The orphanage
did not have sufficient money or resources to fund most of the students’ college education and was forced to “
give them out for marriage” when they turned 18. The lack of opportunity available to these girls compelled me to work towards female youth empowerment.
I returned to the same orphanage in 2013 and organized a three-week long educational summer program session for the girls, tutoring them in everything from conversational English to basic trigonometry. The students’ collective improvement over the short span of time was remarkable and I quickly realized the potential of making my efforts more scalable:
my work didn’t need to be restricted to one orphanage or to summer programs. Thus, I founded Literacy Spree, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with the goal of raising funds to empower underprivileged female youth through education.
We are currently running a fundraising campaign.
All of your donations are tax deductible and will go to higher education opportunities for underprivileged females. The relevant links follow:
Link to our donation page: http://www.youcaring.com/nonprofits/support-for-literacy-spree-501-c-3-nonprofit/296502
Link to our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/literacyspree
Additionally, if you would rather donate by check, you may make a check payable to “
Literacy Spree” and send it to the address below. We would greatly appreciate any donations that you might be able to pledge towards our cause.
Yours Sincerely,
Aakanksha Saxena
Founder and Director
Literacy Spree
11458 N 128th Place
Scottsdale AZ 85259
Email:
[email protected]