Hooch Club Supports Underprivileged Children

On April 9, in its last meeting for the 2012-2013 school year,Chattahoochee High School’s ICE (Indian Cultural Exchange) club presented Ekal Vidyalaya a check to support a tribal village school in India for an entire year.

The CHS ICE club runs entirely on its mission and vision- to inform, educate, and entertain students regarding the various aspects of the Indian culture and community. Complete with a club website (www.hoochiceclub.com), bi-monthly meetings, and various celebrations that mirror Indian festivities, the organization has gained both popularity and support within the Chattahoochee community. In addition, ICE has provided its members with various volunteer opportunities that extend its reach outside of Chattahoochee itself. Practically a first-year organization, ICE has effortlessly turned itself into one of the most popular clubs in Chattahoochee High School with the help of its members, officers, and sponsor. 

Ekal Vidyalaya is an Indian non-profit organization with a mission to promote holistic village development through exclusive education in rural India. In the years since its founding in 1999, Ekal Vidyalaya has funded the building and support of over 47,000 schools scattered throughout India that, as a whole, house over 1.3 million students. Taught by local youth, the schools stress their education on a four-point focus: primary education, healthcare awareness, development, and empowerment. With one of its primary centers in Atlanta, the program plans to raise the funds necessary to build 100,000 more schools across India by 2015 through donations and sponsorships.

As a means of giving back to the very community that supported its growth, Chattahoochee’s ICE Club has generously donated a portion of its accumulated funds ($365, a dollar a day for a year) to this charity in order to fund and aid children in receiving the very education that its members enjoy.  The club plans to extend its reaches into the next school year, continuing a tradition with Ekal Vidyalaya that has only just begun.

For more information on Ekal Vidyalaya and its continuous endeavors, visit the charity’s website at www.ekal.org.