The May fundraiser

On May 23, the "One Night Off the Mat" fundraiser was hosted by Santosa Cafe, good friends of Operation Shanti. Food was donated by Anu and Ganesh of Anu's Internet Cafe. Countless people helped organize the event, and numerous generous folks in the community donated chai, auction prizes, and entertainment. The event was a huge success, a lot of fun for all, and raised enough funds to help pay for school fees, bunk beds, and medicines for our kids at Karunya Mane.

The first seven kids that we met three years ago (Chumi, Pallavi, Latta, Prema, Venkatesh, Nanjunda, and Asha) attended the event. They had a great time watching the magician do his tricks and the Snake Sam show off his incredibly slippery snakes!

Latta and Richard hanging out

They also loved the chocolate-covered bananas and the chocolate fountain. The auction was the hit of the evening, with PJ and Richard as emcees, and many in the community donating amazing prizes.

As one generous donor said, "We were just doing our homework. Bad karma: 0; Good karma: 1".

Om namah shivaya.

Nanjunda, Pallavi, and Sumitra, and a bunch of yoga students