Since 2015 we have been partnering with Kerala Club Seattle (KCS) to raise funds for special education schools. This time we have a team of 10 riders participating in Seattle to Portland on 13th and 14th of July to support the challenged kids at Adarsh School in Ernakulam and Chaithanya School in Palakkad. Combined all the previous years, the team has raised more than $35,000 for the special needs kids. The team has set a goal of $8,000 for this year ride.

About STP

Started in 1979 to promote biking, STP is one of the 10 biggest recreational bicycle rides (206 miles) in the US. The 10,000 registration limit usually caps out within few days! Many of the riders form smaller groups and re-purpose the event to increase awareness about a cause or raise funds for their non-profits. KCS riders are dedicating their ride to improve special education infrastructure in Kerala, India.

Our Team

We have a team of 10 volunteers riding this year. The team will cover 116 miles on day one and the remaining 90 miles on day two. The team has been practicing for the past few months and has done lot of prep work in taking up this challenge. We wish them the very best for a safe and successful ride! We thank Kerala Club Seattle for the continued support and Dream Vision Real Estate for sponsoring our riders’ jerseys.

Riders
Roopesh Kelambath
Ashley Elenjickal
Ashok Ptchapati
Dinek Kothottil
Ajith Kotharamath
Adarsh Madhusoodan
Vipin Venugopal
George Varkey
Sankaranarayanan Gopalan*
Sijo Jose Thommana*
Murthy Medury

* Sijo and Sankar represent us to raise funds in two other biking events as well - Flying Wheels and 7 Hills of Kirkland.

About Adarsh and Chaithanya Special Schools

Adarsh Charitable Trust, based in Kureekkad, Ernakulum, focuses on the rehabilitation of kids with cerebral palsy, autism and Down syndrome. They serve close to 340 children through their centers in two locations – Kureekkad and Vyttila. Another 110 kids receive services at home through their Home Based Rehabilitation(HBR) program.

On average, the cost involved for one child at Adarsh is around INR 2,000 ($30) per month. Of the total running cost, 50% comes through donation, 20% through government grants, and rest from the families. Only around 5% of the kids can afford to pay the full fee. Around 60% of the kids pay between 15% and 75%, depending upon their financial status. 35% of students are below the poverty line (BPL) and are served completely free of cost.

Chaithanya School is one of the fourteen special schools in Palakkad district, but this is the only one that caters the needs of children with profound disability and offers early intervention programs. 149 children attend the school and another set of children receive help through Community Based Rehabilitation(CBR) programs.

The average expense for a child at Chaithanya is almost same as Adarsh, around INR 1,950 ($30). They have a four tier fee structure depending upon the financial situation of the family. Full fees is INR 750 and the reduced fees are 500 and 250. Only 3 children pay the full fees. 26 children pay the reduced fees. Rest of the kids are served free of cost including medicines, uniform, rice, and transportation. Of the total running cost for 2016-17, 48% came through donation, 22% from Government grants and 4.5% from the fees. The remaining were taken from Trust’s reserved funds. To function smoothly, Chaithanya must find 3 lakhs (appx $5,000) in a month through donations.

Special education is a cause that Care & Share has been supporting since our inception in 1990. In the last five years alone we have funded various special schools in Kerala for a total of $100,000+. We started supporting Adarsh and Chaithanya from 2015 after learning about them from their well wishers. If you would like to talk to their supporters who regularly volunteer in these schools let us know, we can get you connected.

From Adarsh School. Picture Courtesy Justin Loveland

Our STP Goal

With our 2018 funds we could partially fund ($5,000) a much needed school bus for Chaithanya and teaching training resource materials ($5,000) for Adarsh. We target to raise $8,000 this year. Adarsh's main ask is to sponsor 4 motorized wheelchairs to help and train kids at school. Each wheel chair costs about Rs 70,000 (about $1,000). Chaithanya's main ask is to sponsor some of the equipment (about $4,000) needed to train a trade (cake making oven, roti rolling machines, candle making equipment, etc).  We request your wholehearted support!

For more information, please contact:

Ashley Elenjickal - 425 273 6021  elenjickal@hotmail.com

Roopesh Kelambath - 425 516 2595  roopesh@live.com

Santhosh Nair - 425 770 2595   sanpnair@hotmail.com

Status of Funds Raised