We hope that you and your family and friends are safe as we continue to grapple with the pandemic around the world. Our deepest condolences to everyone who has lost family or friends. Samhati’s work is continuing despite the coronavirus challenges. We need your help more than ever this year. Our 2020 fundraiser will be a virtual event on Sunday, October 4, 2019, from 5:00 to 6:00 pm on Zoom. We are featuring a dance performance by Antora Rahman. It will be a teatime/cocktail event from each of our homes. We hope that you will join us with your own beverage of choice. We are also enclosing two exclusive recipes from Samhati chefs and invite you to prepare them and join us online.

Founded in 1984, Samhati is the longest-running organization of Bangladeshi women in the United States. We design and support small projects – focused on education, health, and environmental sustainability – to improve the lives of impoverished women and families in Bangladesh. Samhati is tax exempt (IRS ID Number 52-1390261). As an all-volunteer organization with negligible overhead, Samhati can direct approximately 95% of your contributions to needy families. This year we are also trying to help our programs cope with COVID-19.

• If you donate $75, it will provide a one-year scholarship to ensure that a middle or high school child stays in school and does not have to work, or when school is closed, provides help to the whole family.
• A donation of $100 will provide adult literacy or vocational classes for a village woman.
• A donation of $250 will help 20 families with a cash stipend for food during the pandemic.
• A donation of $500 will fund our health clinic in Katakhali village for one month, providing care for the entire Barobaishdia Island of 27,000 people.
• Your gift of $1000 will support 80 families with small cash grants during the pandemic.

During the pandemic, Samhati is continuing to pay all our local workers in Bangladesh and to provide scholarships to our students. We are providing socially-distant trainings in literacy, sewing, farming, and computer literacy. We have funded the sewing of masks and distributed masks and cash stipends to hundreds of families in our programs. Please do support our work and join us on October 4 to learn more.

Instead of buying online, you can write your check payable to “Samhati” and mail to: Samhati, 13107 Laneview Ct., Oak Hill, VA 20171, USA.

Thanks for your support!

Sincerely,

The Samhati Board and Advisors

Photo:  Scholarships given to high school students in Natore program