Embers International Inc

See where I am in real-time 

Click here to track my daily progress 

Riding to break the cycle of violence [Warning:  it's a little graphic] 
In 2014, I lent my apartment in London to a friend who was on her way back from India.  When she met me to return the key, she told me about the brothel she visited and the sex slave who, impregnated by a customer, had put blankets under her bed as a makeshift place for her 6 month old infant to sleep.   When customers visited, she either kept the baby underneath the bed or would ask another worker to care for the baby until the client left. 

This reality was so far removed from my comfortable life that I knew I had to help.  Since its inception, I've partnered with the nonprofit Embers International who helps protect and empower children born into brothels and are trapped in repeated cycles of exploitation. 

1 Mile, 1 Child
On Friday June 11, I will begin a three week gravel ride of the Continental Divide; some of the most majestic scenery in America stretching from Montana to New Mexico.  Every mile biked will bring badly needed resources to children born into brothels in India's Turbhe red-light district. 

-> $20 feeds an entire family for 2 weeks 
-> $50 provides a child with a school uniform for 1 year 
-> $100 shelters a child born into a brothel for 30 nights 
-> $125 provides 1 month of trauma-informed counseling to 20 children
-> $500 helps expand programs to serve children with special needs and teach those who have aged out of the school system
-> $1,200 provides 1 month of daycare to children in a red-light district

100% of proceeds go to Embers International, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization 
100% of expenses (bike equipment, travel, and endless Snickers bars) paid by me 

[ DONATE HERE! ] 

Photo credit: Adventure Cycling Association


I will be climbing thousands of feet in elevation daily on a fully loaded gravel bike, and camping or staying in hostels or motels as available along the route; no support cars! 



While I'll be self-supported, I am starting with about 200 other gravel bikepackers on Friday (Jun 11) in Roosville MT at the Canadian border and hope to find some new friends to ride with.  #tourdivide2021



My goal is to complete 1000 miles of the Tour Divide.  Please help Embers  @embersint  and me @darrenjer finish this JER-NEY by following us on Instagram! 

[ DONATE HERE! ]

And remember, if you walk, run, hike, or bike a mile, don't forget to tag it #1mile1child !

Call for Action -- Help India Win its Battle Against Covid!

**We need to raise $70,000 by May 20th to place an order for 100 oxygen concentrators/essential supplies.   
We are raising $50,000 of this on GoFundMe (U.S.) and $20,000 (INR 15 lakhs) on Milaap (India).  **  

India is battling the worst crisis it has ever seen. Fathers, mothers, relatives, friends are dying for want of adequate medical care as Covid continues to crush the nation.

In addition to your prayers, India needs Oxygen and it needs it NOW!  Oxygen concentrators, generators and cylinders are needed desperately and immediately as supplemental oxygen can help patients in serious conditions breathe while they are waiting for better care. But it does not end there, the country needs a range of medical equipment and supplies such as beds, oximeters, thermometers, flowmeters, PPE kits, as well as vitamins and medications, and the needs will continue to evolve as the pandemic rages across the country.

As widely reported, on May 5, 2021, the daily count of new Covid cases in India hit a record high of more than 400,000, with the total number of cases crossing 20 million. The daily death count in early May 2021 was close to 4,000. The number of cases  continues to surge overwhelming hospitals and crematoriums(!) and leaving families scrambling for scarce medicines and oxygen. 

People across the globe are shocked by the grim media reports and personal anecdotes shared by family and friends. There are queues outside hospitals and clinics caused by an unabated inflow of patients even as these hospitals have run out of beds and oxygen. Patients are lying for hours in parking lots, waiting for their turn and sadly, some are breathing their last during such waits. While this may sound bizarre, some medical facilities have now started requesting patients to bring their own oxygen! 

We need to do our part and we need to do it NOW! Most of the international support is focused on large cities so far. We have chosen to work with Tier 2 cities with limited access where the ground situation is deteriorating fast. 

If our efforts can contribute to saving lives even in a small way, we will be forever grateful for having had the opportunity to do so. 

Our Team.  This is a volunteer initiative by a group of individuals in India, the US and Singapore.  To ensure your donations reach the beneficiaries quickly and securely, our team - with the support of trusted and verified organizations in our networks - is personally organizing and overseeing every detail of the chain: identifying demand, doing direct outreach with NGOs and hospitals, organizing cross-border and last-mile logistics to ensure the equipment and supplies reach beneficiaries, fundraising and procuring directly. 

Poonam Mulherkar  , Director, Pfizer Inc.; IIT Delhi; University of Cincinnati

Ruchira Shukla  , Regional Lead, Disruptive Technologies, IFC, World Bank Group; IIT Delhi; IIM Ahmedabad; Wharton, Univ. of Pennsylvania  

Rahul Shukla  , Tech/Sustainability start-up advisor; Former PE valuation head at Wellington Management; IIT Varanasi; Wharton, Univ. of Pennsylvania  

Inderbir Singh Dhingra, Chief Investment Officer, IFC, World Bank; SRCC; IIM Ahmedabad

Dr Saket Sarraf  , Founder, ps Collective, India. Policy research and analysis; IIT Kharagpur; University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign 

Lopa Shah , Senior Investment Officer, IFC, World Bank Group; Wharton; University of Pennsylvania 

Our Target: We need to raise $70,000 by May 20th to place an order for 100 oxygen concentrators/essential supplies.   We are raising $50,000 of this on GoFundMe (U.S.) and $20,000 (INR 15 lakhs) on Milaap (India).

This is the immediate and urgent need of recipient organizations we are working with.  We will update this target based on a dynamic assessment of needs on the ground. 

Our Dynamic Response. Several initiatives are being organized to deliver oxygen concentrators and other emergency relief supplies to various cities and hospitals in India. However, the need on the ground is tremendous and a number of parallel initiatives are needed to address the vast and urgent country-wide needs in a timely manner. 

Our team is assessing the demand-response situation through our contacts on the ground and adapting what and where to send support in real-time. Currently the most urgent requests we have are for oxygen concentrators in Tier 2 cities including  Ahmedabad, Kanpur, Bhopal.  We have identified suppliers in the US and China and are prioritizing your initial donations to urgently send equipment to one or more of the following organizations:

- Rotary Club of Cosmopolitan Ahmedabad Foundation (Ahmedabad)
- The Optimist Citizen, an NGO (Bhopal)
- Rotary District 3250 (Patna, for further distribution to cities and towns across Bihar and Jharkhand)
- Kanpur Parivartan Forum, Kanpur

Our trusted logistics partner Brring Integrated Logistics (www.brring.in ) will manage door-to-door delivery from the supplier warehouses, through customs, to reach each recipient organization.

To help ensure effective use of your generous donations, recipient organizations are strongly encouraged to cost-share based on ability.

Donors in the U.S.A.  We have partnered with Embers International  (EIN 81-4644695), a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization in this effort.  Your donations are tax deductible in the U.S. as allowed under the IRS guidelines.  Please note: GoFundMe embeds a default tip of 12.5% when you make a donation - this is entirely voluntary and the amount does not come to this fundraiser.  You can modify/remove this by selecting "Other" Tip Amount.

Donors in India.  We have partnered with Rotary Club of Cosmopolitan Ahmedabad Foundation, a registered not-for-profit Trust in India to collect INR donations.  Donations are tax deductible under section 80G in India and will be used towards the same purpose as the USD donations.  Please visit our Milaap fundraising page to make a donation.

Thank you for your support!