Bridging Communities: Raising Funds in Los Angeles for Kanchrapara

Returning to the Valley in Los Angeles after witnessing the conditions in Kanchrapara was like night and day. Determined to make a difference, I decided to utilize my vibrant Indian community in Los Angeles to raise funds for much-needed supplies and educational resources in Kanchrapara.

Our fundraising efforts took shape in the form of booths (which we named 818 Lunch) at annual events (pujas, Bengali New Year), which each celebrated Indian culture while supporting a vital cause. These events quickly became essential to our mission, bringing together friends, family, and community members in a shared commitment to help Kanchrapara.

Our first major event was a Holi celebration. Holi, known as the festival of colors, provided a lively backdrop for our fundraising activities. We set up a Mehndi booth, where we did Mehndi designs. The funds from the Mehndi booth contributed directly to our efforts to purchase mosquito coils, ultra-liquid vaporizers, and chemicals to clean the open drains in Kanchrapara.

During Durga Puja, a major festival celebrating the goddess Durga, we expanded our fundraising efforts. This time, we set up multiple booths. The Mehndi booth returned due to popular demand, and we added a booth selling homemade Indian food, featuring delicious treats like samosas, pakoras, jalebi, chai, and gulab jamun. Another booth sold Indian jewelry, with bangles, earrings, necklaces, and bags. The combined efforts of these booths raised significant funds, allowing us to not only tackle the mosquito problem but also purchase science textbooks for the youth of Kanchrapara, providing them with essential educational resources.

Saraswati Puja, dedicated to the goddess of knowledge and arts, offered another perfect opportunity to support our mission. Similar to Durga Puja, we set up booths for Mehndi, homemade Indian food, and Indian jewelry. The festival's focus on education and learning resonated deeply with our cause, emphasizing the importance of providing educational resources to the underprivileged youth in Kanchrapara.

Bengali New Year, or Pohela Boishakh, marked the start of a new calendar year and a new opportunity to make a difference. For this celebration, we again featured our popular Mehndi booth.

Through these annual events over the years, we were able to consistently raise significant funds to support our projects in Kanchrapara. Each dollar raised translated into crucial supplies that helped reduce the mosquito population and improve public health. Additionally, the funds allowed us to provide science textbooks and other educational resources to the youth of Kanchrapara, enhancing their learning opportunities and future careers.

Here are some photos of our different booths over the years!