India Development Project

We are the Carroll College India Development Project – a new student founded and led organization at Carroll College in Helena, MT.  Our goals are simple: to provide clean water, medicine, and a basic education to impoverished children in Varanasi, India. Last winter break, a group of Carroll students, from a variety of majors and backgrounds travelled to Varanasi and witnessed firsthand the poverty and sickness that permeated the slums and bastis. The India Development Project was started to give students on campus a platform, network, and repository for information that would be helpful for fundraising and implementing projects in India during an annual trip to Varanasi. All of the funds that we raise will go directly towards goods and services for the families we met in India. Funds will NOT go toward airfare or other travel costs unless specifically earmarked for such a use by a donor, and we do not actively encourage these donations. We would much rather money go towards medicine and clean water projects, as these are what the children and families in India need. The families we interact with are struggling to feed themselves. Hardly anyone owns shoes or coats, and thousands are living in slums and on the sides of the road in tarp villages selling repurposed garbage or cow dung as fire fuel. We hope you will donate to give the children of these families a chance for a better life.

Our long term goals are to install wells that will pump clean water in community areas and work with school and community leaders to make schools in Varanasi a place where children can come to get clean water, medicine, education, and food. Our short term goals are to continue purchasing medicine on an as needed basis for children and families we encounter and install temporary filter-based water purifiers in schools and community areas. We look forward to educating the Helena and Carroll communities about the conditions in India and encourage those who have so much to give to those who have so little.