AURED was founded in 1986 by Ms. Aziza Hydari with the goal of habilitating hearing impaired children and to integrate them into mainstream schools. The organization is primarily based in Mumbai and started with just six children. Over the years it has expanded to centers in New Delhi and Hyderabad. In addition, the organization serves children from 64 different Indian cities and 13 neighboring countries. To-date, 405 children are enrolled in the program. The specific methodology used by AURED is known as Auditory Verbal Approach (AVA). AVA focuses on the child’s residual hearing, if any, to enable him/her to communicate effectively. 95% of hearing impaired children have residual hearing and with early intervention and AVA, they can learn to listen and speak to become contributing members of mainstream society. This approach broadly involves the following steps:

1. Evaluation of each child to confirm and determine the extent of hearing loss, assess residual hearing and parental counseling.
2. Fitting of hearing aids or cochlear implants based on extensive scientific testing along with resident as well as visiting professionals.
3. Devising and carrying out a tailor made therapy plan involving both the parents and the child.
4. Based on audio-logical assessments, a child may be recommended for cochlear implant. AURED uses the same Auditory Verbal Approach to work with the recipients of the implant to communicate effectively with these implants.
5. AURED therapists use video presentations to chart and discuss each child's progress during weekly staff meeting

Success stories abound. Trishul is a 20 year old boy who is the oldest beneficiary of AURED. He is a computer skilled person and works as an animator for a big corporate firm in Pune. His mother, Mrs. Dave spoke gratefully about her long journey in getting her son to the level of any hearing child of his age. Proper guidance and assistance from the AURED team helped not just her child, but her marital relationship which was severely strained by obsession with her hearing impaired child.

Omkar is 18 months old. The child has been attending AURED regularly since he was five months old. His father works as a clerk at a co-operative bank and earns salary of Rs.12, 000/- per month. Due to early intervention, his prognosis is very good.

 

 

Sunny is another success story. He is in the 7th grade and making such good progress that he will be opting to learn French as a third language. His mother gave a very inspiring speech on how she worked hard with the AURED team since he was diagnosed at the age of one. Sunny is now a typical teenage boy and his prospects to integrate with mainstream society are high.

 

 

AURED places good emphasis on staff training. The staff attends related conferences and workshops to get ideas on new developments in the field of hearing impairment, particularly for children. Ms. Zankhana Patel who visited the Mumbai center on 12th April 2008 gave an average score of 3.5 upon 4 for the project. There is no doubt that AURED is committed to the cause of hearing impaired children as is evident from the progress reports. Vibha continues to support this worthy cause.

A city that loves running, a group of enthusiastic volunteers, a first attempt and the result – success. On September 7th, 15 volunteers pulled off Vibha Chicago’s first ever Dream Mile event. The run/walk attracted 55 participants and resulted in gross revenue of $4,000; 85% of which came from pledges.

The event planning spanned over 2 months with volunteers spreading the word through booths at temples and at the race venue, flyers at the workplace and restaurants and outreach to the running community in Chicago. The volunteer team pursued sponsorship options and ensured Vibha registered itself on the radar screen of interested business establishments that could turn into future sponsors as the event gains popularity. The certified race track and the professional firm for timing the runners added credibility to the event and attracted serious runners.

The day of the event started with 10 volunteers arriving at the venue at 6 am. Immediately, the team split up into 4 sub-groups to setup registration desks, mark-out the race course, arrange breakfast and setup water points. The race started on time at 8 am and witnessed runners across different age-groups from as young as 8 to over 50. Kids attending the event helped award prizes and medals to the winners in each category. The event, which was covered by a local news channel, was conducted in a professional manner and met the expectations of the participants.

By 10:30 am, all walkers had been registered and the 5K walk was initiated. Volunteers and their friends, kids, toddlers, parents, grandparents alike participated in the noble cause. The time between the run and the walk was filled with fun games for the kids and media coverage and publicity of Vibha’s cause for enthusiastic adults. Apart from great participation, the most gratifying aspect of the walk/run was the interest we were able to generate in several of the participants who stayed over after the walk to learn more about Vibha and pledge volunteer hours for future events

Please join us in congratulating the Chicago Action Center on a job well begun and for its contribution to the overall Dream Mile Pledge Drive that has crossed the $100k mark for this year! Kudos to all Vibha volunteers who made this dream a reality. Please keep plugged into the Vibha Dream Mile as we continue to provide updates on the remaining four dream miles in future editions of this newsletter.

Vibha offers various donation programs that caters to the individual donors/entities expectations and financial resources. Whether you want to make regular monthly contributions or donate lump sump to a particular project; whether it is a kid collecting change in a canister or a corporate giving a grant; whether it’s through a dream registry for your child’s first birthday or holiday shopping through our affiliates for your family and friends – the programs team has a way for you to contribute to the cause of underprivileged children while you are busy with the daily chores of life.

The Vibha Programs team provides all of the above, while making sure the donors realize and cherish the significance of their contribution through detailed project reports, newsletters, donation receipts for tax purposes or even simple acknowledgements.

Most of us make significant donation decisions towards the end of the year.

The Vibha Beneficiary Program (VBP) is aimed at providing a convenient mechanism for individuals and organizations to contribute toward a project of their choice. Often, an individual or a fund raising organization is interested in donating money to a cause they are passionate about, but does not have the time and resources to go through the rigors of identifying, evaluating and monitoring the projects. Vibha can help in this process. Having improved the lives of over 200,000 children through various projects since 1991, Vibha has developed a tremendous amount of expertise in project evaluation/selection and has the infrastructure for project monitoring. Through VBP, a patron can leverage this expertise and ensure that their funds are utilized towards a project of their choice.

While Vibha takes care of Project evaluation, selection as well as monitoring, the patron will be assured of at least one monitoring visit to the project per year by Vibha project monitoring personnel. In addition, Vibha will facilitate communication between the patron and the project. All reports from the project will be forwarded to the patron on a regular basis. Vibha also encourage our patrons to visit the project and witness first hand the difference they are making in the lives of their beneficiaries. To quote Dr. Ravi Sarma, a long standing patron through the Vibha Beneficiary Program, “It makes me feel good that this amount of follow up is given to the donor.” For more information visit www.vibha.org/vbp or email vbp@vibha.org.

Vibha Dream Registryis an ideal way to celebrate birthdays, weddings, graduation or any other milestone by requesting a donation to Vibha in place of a gift. In addition to raising funds, this is a good way to spread awareness about Vibha and the cause of underprivileged children to your guests. More details on how to participate at www.vibha.org/dreamregistry or write to dreamregistry@vibha.org.

Vibha Affiliates program provides you with an opportunity to support Vibha while shopping/searching online with no additional cost to you. Just visit www.vibha.org/affiliates and start your holiday shopping knowing that Vibha benefits by getting a part of the proceeds. It’s as simple as that.

Help Them Grow is an automated donation program demonstrating that even a few dollars set aside every month by you has the potential to provide an underprivileged child with life changing opportunities that he or she would otherwise never get. Contribute any amount of your choice from your bank account or credit card. Something as small as $20 a month can fund the education, healthcare and shelter for a child. Sign up online at www.vibha.org/htg

Change For Children is a simple canister to collect the change at your home or workplace in specifically designed canisters provided by Vibha. It is especially popular with children who really like the canister design while it helps inculcate a sense of the social responsibility at a very young age. Details at www.vibha.org/cfc.

All this is made possible by a dedicated Programs team comprising of the individual Program Leads, with support from Projects team, Marketing team, IT team, Vibha Office Manager and most importantly volunteers in each action center.

Your feedback is important to us. Vibha welcomes any comments, suggestions or questions you may have about our projects, programs, products, monitoring etc. If you are particularly interested in a topic and would like to see Vibha showcase it please let us know.

Together, we can do much more!

Dream a Little! Do a Little!

Vibha 1030 E El Camino Real, #424 Sunnyvale, CA 94087
Phone: 408-997-9992 | Fax: 775-593-1061

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