Ramani Varansi is the President of HPAC and is based in Boston. She was born in Bangalor, India and grew up in Montreal, Canada.  She has a BSc in Microbiology and Immunology and an MSc in Biochemistry/Cancer Biology, both of which were obtained from McGill University in Montreal.  She also obtained an MBA (with a specialization in General Strategy) from Northeastern University in Boston, USA. Ramani currently heads up the Business Development group at a local biotechnology company in the Boston area, where she has responsibility for helping define and executing on the corporate strategy. Ramani shared with Lokvani the vision and goals of 'Help a Poor Child'.

HAPC originally took root in UK. What was the inspiration behind this group?

The charity was founded in 1980 by a group of young individuals who were visiting India from the UK, and who were presented with a challenge of "doing something for the poor". Some of them, who had studied in India at a young age, could not imagine that they had once lived amongst so much poverty, and suggested that they must have been "blind to it all" when they lived there. The sights of children living in impoverished conditions, with limited to no access to basic necessities, such as food, water, shelter and clothing, inspired these individuals, led by Derrick Pereira, the founder of the Help A Poor Child organization, to initiate fundraising activities on a small scale as a way to ‘give back’. Over the years, the organization has grown in size and scope, but still remains inspired by its vision and driven in its mission to provide funding for basis human needs and to raise the spirits of people in these regions that lack usable water, food, education, homeostasis, and livable environments.

Give us a background of the people involved in the US chapter?

 The US chapter is currently a very small chapter, and consists of and is governed by a ‘working’ board of directors. The members of the board all have complementary industry skill sets and experiences, which when combined together, result in a cohesive functioning unit, focused on providing the appropriate organizational structure for the chapter and creating an awareness of the organization, its vision, mission and goals. All board members have held or currently hold senior level strategic management and/or operations positions in their respective industries, which include the areas of biotechnology & pharmaceuticals, strategic management consulting, financial services, legal services, and information technology, and have several years of combined experience in founding and working with not-for-profit organizations.

How did you connect to HAPC?

Having volunteered with several local and international organizations in the past, I have always had a keen interest focusing my volunteer work toward not-for-profits that were focused on the theme of providing aid and assistance for children, as these are the individuals who are most vulnerable, who are in dire need of help and who also represent our future generation.  During a recent trip to India in December 2006, I had the opportunity to work on several projects involving children, including an orphanage for children afflicted with HIV, and also had the fortune of meeting with several not-for-profit organizations to discuss their approach to addressing the issue of poverty and education, specifically related to children who were underprivileged. My interest was piqued when I spoke with a representative of the Help A Poor Child organization, and found that their approach to addressing this problem was one that resonated with me.I was keen on working with an international organization that had broad scope of projects with a simple mission - which is to “operate in the poorest countries of the world and make a difference to an ordinary day in the life of a child”. Their simple, but pure vision, accompanied by strong mission statements, realistic goals, methodical approach to rebuild environments with displaced children by providing programs and resources that help save lives, and their unique approach toward accountability, to their donors, was what ultimately drew me to the organization, resulting, soon thereafter, in the formation and incorporation of the US chapter of HAPC, USA.

How do you identify the poorest of the poor children?

In a world full of under privileged children, it would be cruel to rank which child should be designated as the most unfortunate, however, most of the children we work with are deprived to an unimaginable degree, as they have little food, suffer from endemic diseases, live with high levels of disability and/or parental rejection and work, beg or even scavenge for their survival from as early as 5 years of age. There is no help for them and very little hope either, as children’s affairs seem to have little to no priority in the communities in which our projects are based. The majority of children are destitute and orphaned, and either survive in dire conditions in orphanages or do not have a roof over their heads and live as vagabonds, after having become orphans. These are the children we mainly target for receipt of aid and assistance, and through various children and family assistance programs and the creation of a sustainable infrastructure for these children, as opposed to one-time financial aid, we hope to provide hope to those who are affected by extreme poverty.

Share with us a success story where HAPC has made a difference to a child?

An example of a success story in which HAPC has made a difference to a child or even a group of children is illustrated in the earthquake victim project that was run out of Lahore, Pakistan. The October 2005 Pakistan earthquake, which largely affected children, many of whom were orphaned, was widely reported in the media as the toughest relief operation the world has ever known. HELP A POOR CHILD immediately reacted with an urgent appeal for funds. This was done through the local media as well as targeted appeals on various television networks, which included the BBC. Twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) was allocated towards the growing relief fund, which were used to purchase about 45 tons of aid, which was ultimately set off to the areas of Muzzafarabad and Attock. HAPC representatives travelled with a convoy of trucks to the affected areas.  The initial aid package included 200 tents, 16 tons of rice, dahl, sugar, long life bread, antibiotics, bandages, diesel, blankets, tea and other essentials. During the relief operation, HAPC worked with a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based in Lahore to mobilize the aid. The aid and assistance provided by HELP A POOR CHILD made a critical difference to these children affected by the earthquake, as they were able to receive, through HAPC’s quick reaction to mobilize, basic aid and needs such as food, clean water, warmth, shelter and medical assistance.  

What are the upcoming activities of the group in Boston?

The HAPC USA chapter in Boston was officially incorporated in April 2007 and has been in both strategic planning and execution mode since its inception. The activities of the Boston chapter have been and will continue to focus on strengthening our organization, raising awareness, project identification and fundraising. In order to raise initial awareness of the existence of the Help A Poor Child organization as a whole, and the local Boston chapter in particular, several members of the board recently attended the TiECON East conference, held in Boston this past June, and hosted a booth featuring the work being conducted globally by the organization and had the opportunity to network with colleagues to discuss the concepts of social entrepreneurship and the role that Help A Poor Child plays in the broader scheme of providing aid and assistance to families and children struggling in terrible poverty.

As part of our initial and current fundraising efforts, we are holding a raffle for club house tickets to the soccer match between the New England Revolution and the LA Galaxy (featuring David Beckham), to be held in August. The proceeds of this fundraising campaign will go toward supporting some of the existing projects in India as well as new projects that we hope to initiate in the Nilgiris in southern India. Through the raffle over the past month, we have raised greater than $1000, which we see as a great accomplishment for a chapter as young as ours.

Additionally, we are planning to hold a wine and cheese ‘Help A Poor Child kick- off’ event at the end of July to continue to raise awareness of the HAPC organization and to introduce ourselves to and share information with individuals interested in volunteering with the chapter; and in August, we plan to sponsor and participate in a Walk-A-Thon, in conjunction with other local organizations who are focused on causes similar to ours. The hope is to ‘cross pollinate’ and strengthen our approach to fulfilling the mission of HAPC through an active collaboration with organizations who appreciate and share our vision.

How do you choose your projects?

There are several ways in which the organization chooses projects to work on. On a broader level, the organization defines the scope of projects it wishes to fund and evaluates these projects against certain defined and agreed upon criteria. On a specific level, the recipient chapters get involved to proactively identify projects that meet these predefined criteria in specific communities of interest, mostly communities in desperate need of external aid.

HAPC is also contacted by other similarly situated organizations, on an international scale, that are interested in receiving funds from HAPC for a particular project or set of projects that have been identified by them. In these instances, as well, the projects are reviewed by all chapters prior to selection and approval to fund.

Individual HAPC members often travel to India and Africa and work with local communities to identify projects that represent a meaningful cause and are therefore likely to be ideal candidates for funding, but more importantly, succeed from the receipt of these funds. We look to fund those projects in which we are able to build an infrastructure that is self sustaining long term and also for which we are able to ensure appropriate accountability to the source of the original funds. Projects involving education or vocational training rank high in our view as projects for which to fundraise. 

What are the various ways that volunteers can help and get involved with HAPC?

There are several ways in which one can help and get involved with the organization. HAPC, USA is in search of volunteers who are willing to donate their time to participate in the organization’s sub-committees to help in the planning and execution of awareness raising and fundraising activities. Small charities such as ours cannot afford the costs associated with broad based advertising or public relations initiatives. Without the public awareness of the existence of the organization, we would not be able to survive and follow through on our stated mission. Therefore, we rely on the goodwill of volunteers to represent the organization and donate their time to publicize the mission and goals of HELP A POOR CHILD, to get our message out to like-minded people who might assist us with our many tasks. Examples of fundraising activities that one can organize and lead include, obtaining sponsorships for participation at sporting events, holding an art exhibit/silent or blind auction, holding a wine and chocolate tasting event, and many, many more. We also look forward to working with volunteers to obtain corporate sponsorships to support our projects. We also look for support for our child sponsorship program, where an individual can make a difference in the life of one child.

Our motto to the concept of volunteering with HELP A POOR CHILD is that a “little help can go a long way”. 

What is the best way to get in touch with the organization?

The best way to get in touch with the organization is to contact us at usa@helpapoorchild.com or visit us at our website – www.helpapoorchild.com, and go to the US fundraising branch page, where additional contact information is listed. This recently designed and updated website contains a thorough description of our organization and its principles, the projects we support, updates on the various fundraising and recipient branches, and ideas on how volunteers can help.

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