<p><strong>In our 14 years of existence</strong>, we at <strong>Akhand Jyoti have touched the lives of more than 12 million indigent people</strong>. Our work has not only restored vision but also the hopes and livelihoods of the poor.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img src="https://www.akhandjyoti.org/public/backend/assets/img/blog-image/Donors' Support.png" alt="Akhand Jyoti" width="800" height="533" />&nbsp;</p>
<p>The eye care service we provide is affordable, accessible, and sustainable. <strong>80% of the sight-restoring surgeries we do are free for poor patients, </strong>which is made possible through the constant support of our donors and well-wishers. Individuals from both within and beyond the border have donated to our cause time and again.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img src="https://www.akhandjyoti.org/public/backend/assets/img/blog-image/Happy patient 1.png" alt="Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital" width="800" height="533" />&nbsp;</p>
<p>Through the following paragraphs, we have tried to recognise individuals and organisations who have supported us in various ways in the financial year 2019-2020.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.akhandjyoti.org/public/backend/assets/img/blog-image/Happy patient 2.png" alt="Akhand Jyoti Eye Hospital" width="800" height="533" /></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><strong>Saluting the Indian diaspora in Singapore</strong></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Between 2nd &ndash; 11th March 2019, <strong>Akhand Jyoti undertook to start its 1st overseas fundraising event in Singapore.</strong> This was made possible <strong>through help from&nbsp;<em>BridgeAble</em>,&nbsp;<em>Ms. Richa Menke</em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Mr. Jayesh Parekh</em></strong>, Member Advisory Board, Akhand Jyoti.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.akhandjyoti.org/public/backend/assets/img/blog-image/Singapore event.png" alt="Akhand Jyoti Event" width="800" height="533" /></p>
<p>Over the next 9 months the large hearted <strong>Indian diaspora in Singapore supported us to provide sight-restoring surgeries to thousands of poor blind people</strong> in Bihar and Eastern Uttar Pradesh:</p>
<ol>
<li>Agrocorp IndiaTrade Services Pvt. Ltd.</li>
<li>Anand Satyamurthy</li>
<li>Anantha and Ramya Nageswaran</li>
<li>Anu Agarwal</li>
<li>Asha and Anil Dixit</li>
<li>Ashwin Jayaram</li>
<li>Bakul and Swati Parikh</li>
<li>Bhaskar Jayaraman and Archana Bhaskar</li>
<li>Devika Misra</li>
<li>Divya Verma Patel &amp; Saahil Vasant Patel</li>
<li>Girija Pande</li>
<li>Gopal Rai Mandhania</li>
<li>Hridaan Popuri</li>
<li>Jag and Subhash Arora</li>
<li>Jain Society Ladies Wing</li>
<li>Kanchana Gupta</li>
<li>Kaushik and Harsha Shaparia</li>
<li>Kavitha Iyer and Irvin Sequeira</li>
<li>Kumar and Krithika Radhakrishnan</li>
<li>Kusum Sharma</li>
<li>Madhuli and Prem Kumar</li>
<li>Manisha Garg</li>
<li>Monica Abrol</li>
<li>Mousumi Bhat</li>
<li>NE Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.</li>
<li>Paromita and Sameer Mehta</li>
<li>Parul Singhai</li>
<li>Parul Thakker</li>
<li>Raj and Gayatri Sriram</li>
<li>Rajesh Sachdeva</li>
<li>Sumita Ambasta</li>
<li>Adam Fiore</li>
<li>Ranodeb Roy</li>
<li>Richa Menke</li>
<li>Sagarika and Sandeep Sen</li>
<li>Sam Shergill</li>
<li>Sandhya and Sanjay Kothary</li>
<li>Sangini Shroff</li>
<li>Sanjay and Madhuben Doshi</li>
<li>Shalini and Alok Sinha</li>
<li>Shameeli Sinha</li>
<li>Shirdi Sai Worship Centre Ltd.</li>
<li>Shital Raiyani and Nilesh Jassani</li>
<li>Suketu Shah</li>
<li>Sunil and Sushmitha Popuri</li>
<li>Tarun and Priti Kataria</li>
<li>Venky Krishnakumar</li>
<li>Vikas and Manisha Gattani</li>
<li>Smt. &amp; Late Shree Hiranand Vishindas Farswani</li>
<li>Seema &amp; Yogesh Farswani</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><strong>'Light a Life' campaign</strong></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><em>Ramya Nageswaran</em>&nbsp;from Singapore</strong>, on the eve of &lsquo;World Sight Day 2019&rsquo;, <strong>created Akhand Jyoti&rsquo;s 1st Online Fundraising Campaign &ndash; &lsquo;Light A Life&rsquo;</strong> and raised fund from 72 kind-hearted individuals <strong>to gift eyesight to 208 indigent people</strong> from Bihar.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.akhandjyoti.org/public/backend/assets/img/blog-image/Light a life.png" alt="Fundraising campaign - Akhand Jyoti" width="800" height="533" />&nbsp;</p>
<h2><strong>Teaching girls self-defence&nbsp;</strong></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>In April 2019,&nbsp;<strong><em>Jag</em>&nbsp;&amp;&nbsp;<em>Subhash Arora</em></strong>&nbsp;made an incredible effort to <strong>send martial arts instructors</strong>,&nbsp;<em>Ms. Qin Yunquan</em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Nicole Toe</em>&nbsp;from Singapore <strong>to train our girls in the art of self-defence.</strong> The goal was to further develop their self-confidence and increase their physical fitness.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.akhandjyoti.org/public/backend/assets/img/blog-image/Self Defence programme.png" alt="Self Defence Programme" width="800" height="533" />&nbsp;</p>
<h2><strong>Our youngest donor</strong></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>9-year-old&nbsp;<em>Hridaan Popuri</em></strong>&nbsp;studying at standard 3, from Singapore, became our <strong>youngest donor by donating his sole piggy bank savings to gift eyesight</strong> to two underprivileged blind patients.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.akhandjyoti.org/public/backend/assets/img/blog-image/Hridaan.png" alt="Akhand Jyoti Donor" width="800" height="533" />&nbsp;</p>
<h2><strong>Support for the new optical unit</strong></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><em>Shirdi Sai Worship Centre Ltd.</em>, Singapore funded the optical dispensing unit</strong> at our upcoming 40-bed hospital at the remote location of Purnea in Bihar.&nbsp;<strong>Many thanks to Shobha Punukollu and BridgeAble for initiating this support.</strong></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><strong>Committed for life, committed to sight</strong></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><em>Sanjukta Sen</em> and <em>Richard</em> overwhelmed us by creating a fundraiser</strong> requesting their friends to donate to Akhand Jyoti instead of giving them any other wedding gift for their marriage in February 2020.&nbsp;<strong>Their campaign helped us provide sight-restoring surgeries to 121 rural underprivileged individuals.</strong> Our heartfelt gratitude to the couple and we wish them a very happy journey ahead.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.akhandjyoti.org/public/backend/assets/img/blog-image/Sanjukta.png" alt="Akhand Jyoti Donor" width="800" height="533" />&nbsp;</p>
<h2><strong>A new beginning with a new thought</strong></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><em>Vandana</em> and <em>Sunny</em> took a wonderful initiative on their wedding to raise funds to restore the sight of the poor.</strong> They requested all guests not to bring them gifts but to make donations to support sight-restoring surgeries.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.akhandjyoti.org/public/backend/assets/img/blog-image/Vandana photo.png" alt="Akhand Jyoti Donor" width="800" height="533" />&nbsp;</p>
<h2><strong>Help for the 100-bed new girls' hostel</strong></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><em>Sandhya</em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<em>Sanjay Kothary</em>&nbsp;partly supported the construction of our new 100-bed girl&rsquo;s hostel.</strong> After completion of this new hostel, 100 more underprivileged rural girls can be inducted into our programme and would get a shot at a better life.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img src="https://www.akhandjyoti.org/public/backend/assets/img/blog-image/Girls hostel.png" alt="Girls hostel" width="800" height="533" />&nbsp;</p>
<h2><strong>Helping us spread out - Vision centre expansions</strong></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Our vision centres enable us to grow geographically. They help us spread out strategically and reach out to more patients in rural areas. <strong>Every vision centre we build is estimated to annually provide primary eye screening to 7,800 people, refer free surgeries to 800 patients and dispense spectacles to 2,400 people.</strong></p>
<p><img src="https://www.akhandjyoti.org/public/backend/assets/img/blog-image/Vision Centre.png" alt="Eye Clinics" width="800" height="533" /></p>
<p><strong>We plan to launch 8 new Vision Centres by March 2021</strong> and <strong>have already received support for 5 of them.</strong> We are gratefull for the generous support extended by the following kind-hearted patrons:</p>
<ol>
<li>Asha Dixit</li>
<li>Bharat Shah</li>
<li>Harish Nim</li>
<li>Jayakumar Ganapaty</li>
<li>Jayesh Parekh</li>
<li>Vasant Rathi</li>
<li>Mayur Ghelani</li>
<li>Sam Shergil</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><strong>Selling cards to gift vision</strong></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>Our young friend, <em>Antara Chowdhary</em></strong> from Singapore <strong>designed customised greeting cards with beautiful messages</strong> in the new year 2020 and <strong>sold those to raise fund to support sight-restoring surgeries of 14 poor blind patients</strong> in Bihar. She has really won our hearts with her kind gesture.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.akhandjyoti.org/public/backend/assets/img/blog-image/Antara.png" alt="Akhand Jyoti Donor" width="800" height="533" />&nbsp;</p>
<h2><strong>Book launch lights lives</strong></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong><a href="../../meet-the-team/advisory-board/jayesh-parekh" target="_blank">Jayesh Parekh</a>, Member, Advisory Board, Akhand Jyoti</strong>, <strong>authored and launched the book "What Shall We Do With All This Money?"</strong> in February 2020.&nbsp;</p>
<p><img src="https://www.akhandjyoti.org/public/backend/assets/img/blog-image/Book.png" alt="Jayesh Parekh" width="800" height="533" /></p>
<p><strong>The sale proceeds of which are being utilised to gift sight to underprivileged blind patients</strong> in Bihar and help them emerge out of the curse of blindness.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xsWCgM5QvEw" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p>
<p><strong>Find out more about the book here:</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://allthismoney.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://allthismoney.com/</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>You can get hold of your copy here:</strong></p>
<p><strong>India -</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://amzn.to/36UXJNt" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://amzn.to/36UXJNt</a></p>
<p><strong>Singapore -</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://s.lazada.sg/s.8eUp" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://s.lazada.sg/s.8eUp</a></p>
<p><strong>USA -</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://amzn.to/2QeA7ge" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://amzn.to/2QeA7ge</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><strong>'The Food Express'</strong></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>The CoronaVirus (COVID-19) crisis had resulted in many poor people from Bihar, including migrant workers, struggling for two square meals a day.&nbsp;</strong><strong>Akhand Jyoti distributed food packets to such needy families</strong> in the community since the outbreak of the COVID-19 and the lockdown mandated by the government.</p>
<p><img src="https://www.akhandjyoti.org/public/backend/assets/img/blog-image/Food express 2.png" alt="COVID-19 Crisis Food Distribution" width="800" height="533" /></p>
<p>Through this initiative, we <strong>distributed 28,912 ration kits during this period.</strong></p>
<p><img src="https://www.akhandjyoti.org/public/backend/assets/img/blog-image/Food express 1.png" alt="Covid support to migrant labourers" width="800" height="533" />&nbsp;</p>
<p>The following individuals and organisations supported us in this drive:</p>
<ol>
<li>Anil Dixit</li>
<li>Anil Poddar</li>
<li>Anuj Jain</li>
<li>Anu Agarwal</li>
<li>Bansidhar Baijnath Jalan Seva Trust</li>
<li>Borun Ghorai</li>
<li>DORAI Foundation</li>
<li>Dr K R Shroff Foundation</li>
<li>Girija Prasad Pande</li>
<li>Girish Pamnani</li>
<li>Kirtida Mekani</li>
<li>Mahindra Kanji</li>
<li>Mala Nalwa</li>
<li>Mandeep Nalwa</li>
<li>Manju Gang</li>
<li>Mona J Parekh</li>
<li>Ninita Agarwal</li>
<li>Nilesh Shah</li>
<li>Preetie Kohli</li>
<li>Radha Aiyer</li>
<li>Raj Sriram</li>
<li>Rajesh Rawani</li>
<li>Reena Devpura</li>
<li>S. Majumdar</li>
<li>Saahil Patel</li>
<li>Sapna</li>
<li>Saurabh Srivastava</li>
<li>Shalini Sinha</li>
<li>Shivani Thapar</li>
<li>Suketu Shah</li>
<li>Sunder Sham Chanrai</li>
<li>Veenapani Sekseria</li>
<li>Vinod Aachi</li>
<li>Vipul Shantilal Shah</li>
<li>Vishal B Doshi</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<h2><strong>Others who have helped us too</strong></h2>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Our following<strong> generous supporters</strong> have <strong>contributed in different ways in FY 2019-2020 to help us achieve our vision and mission:</strong></p>
<ol>
<li>Aadarsh Baijal</li>
<li>Advanced Enzyme Technology&nbsp;</li>
<li>Amita Mehta Trust</li>
<li>Amrit Vasudeva Trust</li>
<li>Ananth and Ramya Nageswaran</li>
<li>Ashoka Pte. Ltd.</li>
<li>Bansidhar Baijnath Jalan Seva Trust</li>
<li>Borun Ghorai</li>
<li>Dalmia Cement Bharat Ltd.</li>
<li>Dorai Foundation</li>
<li>Genuine Interest Ltd.&nbsp;</li>
<li>Mandeep Nalwa</li>
<li>Mona J. Parekh</li>
<li>Naveen Bhat</li>
<li>Nilesh Arvind Parekh</li>
<li>Nilesh Shah&nbsp;</li>
<li>Pratul Shroff</li>
<li>Ramesh Shah</li>
<li>Rohit Arora</li>
<li>Sunder Sham Chanrai</li>
<li>Sunil and Sushmitha Hridaan Popuri</li>
<li>Veenapani Sekseria</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>We would like to sincerely thank all our large hearted supporters for their continued faith in our work and for supporting us in our efforts to make lives of the underprivileged better by restoring sight, life and hope.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>With the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, we like the rest of the world have been forced to change and adapt our ways. Now more than ever we need the support of our friends and well-wishers. Your support will help us shape many more lives.&nbsp;</p>