You can now purchase sponsorships and tickets online for the Sahasra Deepika Foundation's Inaugural Gala in Washington, D.C. We need your support to make this very special event a success! Click here to buy your tickets for the Gala!

The second year of the Sahasra Deepika Spelling Bee has begun. Three more high schools are participating, for a total of 13 schools and over 1500 students! This year's competition will feature a larger dictionary, with most of the words taken from the 9th standard textbooks. The children can thus improve their skills for school while expanding their vocabulary. Pictured above are SDI volunteers Partha Rajendra, Fiona Ritchey and Nadia Sepahi with last year's top spellers from Honnaganna Hatti High School, including spelling champ Hemalatha. Read more about the changes in the program for 2010-2011.

Lenka Svobodova, an HSBC Team Leader from the U.K., stayed at Sahasra Deepika for about a month in May and June.  She organized the library, played games, and read with the students. When many of the SDI children went away to spend summer holidays with their relatives, the ones who stayed behind enjoyed a special treat. Lenka (far right) and volunteer Sue Rogers (far left) arranged for an outing to Wonderla, a local amusement park. They swam, played and thoroughly enjoyed the day. We thank them for arranging this memorable outing and for their service to the children at Sahasra Deepika.