| My Dear Lila Fellows,
A s we cross the milestone of having completed ten exciting years of the Lila Poonawalla Foundation, the path traversed seems an unbelievable experience. Tremendous joy. Bountiful happiness. A lot of hard work. Great satisfaction. Some frustrations. New families. Many friends. Some disappointments. All this in the past ten years! Ten years which feel like a moment gone by. It feels like we started the Lila Poonawalla Foundation just the other day.
But when I take stock of what we have done, and the number of lives we have touched, it brings home the magnitude of the work done. In these ten years over 300 young girls have joined the Lila Family. Not only 300 girls, but also 300 new families have created a bond with us. A Bond, which is forever.
I am also happy and satisfied (not smug) with how well the Lila Fellows have done. I am proud of your achievements, as I would be when a member of the family does something outstanding and receives a much-deserved pat on the back. You have all groomed yourselves into young ladies. Some of you are married and some have also become mothers. But what is important is that you are all confident, empowered to face the world at your own terms. It is for this reason that I was very committed to pen down the developments in the lives of some of my Lila Fellows. I am indeed very happy that ultimately this has become a reality. The book named “21st Century Belongs to Them” is ready and is being released at the 10th Award function.
One other important development that has brought happiness to me is bringing on board a Lila Fellow as a TRUSTEE. Shaheen Patel (Shaikh). My ultimate goal is that this Foundation, which is of the Lila Fellows, should be totally managed by the Lila Fellows, for the Lila Fellows. Hopefully this will happen in the next couple of decades.
This year we have introduced 10 special scholarships for those girls who with all their hard work have still not been |
able to secure a first class in academics due to circumstances beyond their control. All the trustees unanimously agreed that these girls should be given an equal opportunity.
We had a very interesting and an enjoyable experience with nature. Lila Fellows and Trustees got together and with the help of Vanrai, planted over 100 trees. It was a beautiful experience for all of us. With the hard work of planting and watering the plants, we all got real hungry. It was the Pizza Hut brunch that came to rescue. We also had a Madhubani painting awareness program conducted by Mrs. Dongre; some of the Lila Fellows are undergoing a full-fledged course with her. We had Mrs. Preeti Rao VP Infosys Technologies, talk to Lila Fellows about opportunities in the world of emerging new technologies. She also released our 15th issue of Inspira. Lila Fellows took the opportunity to celebrate Mr. Poonawalla's birthday at this occasion, and had a great time enjoying all that the birthday party had to offer.
I take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported the Foundation and made it possible to grow it, and bring it to where it is today. Especially all the Trustees, who have worked with total dedication, the Inspira editorial team, the Lila Fellows who work as volunteers, friends and well wishers. A special thanks to those who have financially contributed to the well being of the Foundation. I am sure all of you will continue your strong association with the Foundation.
Let us together, move ahead to the next decade with the ambition of growing the Lila Poonawalla Foundation, to encompass many more young deserving girls and be a catalyst in changing their lives.
With warm regards
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Lila Poonawalla |
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