Govardhan Hill is one of the most sacred sites in India. It is the place where Lord Krishna performed many of his childhood pastimes with the cows — clearly establishing the importance of cows and bulls in a healthy and sustainable society. Govardhana is visited by millions of tourist every year and yet it is one of the poorest places in the world.
Food for Life Vrindavan (FFLV) has taken on the task of serving this spiritual community by building a new school in Govardhan to educate hundreds of slum kids who live in poverty and run around begging. FFLV director, Rupa Raghunatha das (right) believes: “Proper education and meeting the basic needs of these children would break the poverty cycle and enable them to stand on their own feet and progress in the world. This new school will save many who would otherwise die due to disease and poverty or for having a female body.”
On October 22nd, 2010, FFLV inaugurated the third Sandipani Muni School. On that same day, they had the ground-breaking ceremony for their fourth school at Govardhan.
India has the larger number of poor children in Asia with 80% of its 400 million children severely deprived. In fact, 60% of India’s children are considered absolutely poor.
Food for Life Vrindavan has served the needs of the poorest villages in the Vrindavan area (120 Km south of New Delhi) since 1990 and has become one of leading non-profits in all of India.
FFLV Services include:
- The Sandipani Muni Schools provides education for 1500 needy children from kindergarten to the end of high school. Our school children are girls only, with boys allowed in kindergarten only. We have made this decision to focus on girls because the local culture favours boys over girls, and so girls get less food; less medical care; less education and less opportunities in general.
- Skills training courses for adult women.
- Food distribution of 66,000 meals a month.
- Sanctuary and medical care for sick injured and abandoned cows.
- Basic medical assistance to about 1,000 people per month.
- Assistance to the elderly and the disabled.
- Environmental projects, including tree planting.
