In a heartwarming moment at Home of Hope’s 14th annual fundraiser, held Dec. 2 at the India Community Center, gala attendees connected with hearing-impaired students at the Adarsh School in Amritsar, Punjab.

Using Skype teleconferencing, Jill Ellis, co-founder of the Center for Early Intervention on Deafness in Berkeley, Calif., who had visited Pingalwara in 2010, led the audience through an interactive dialogue with Adarsh’s students, who were led by former Air Force captain R.P. Singh, who now teaches at the school.

The video conference was facilitated by Kiren Singh, 16, a junior at the College Preparatory School in Oakland and  vice president of the HOH youth chapter.

The Adarsh School – established by Home of Hope in 2005 – is part of the Pingalwara Charitable Society, which aims to provide a home, education and lodging to marginalized people in India, including orphans, and physically and mentally handicapped people.

The gala attendees greeted the Adarsh school children with a “good morning” in Punjabi sign language. The Adarsh students then performed a song welcoming their guests.

Several children showed off the handicrafts they had made at school. 

Home of Hope has established a computer lab for Pingalwara’s children, and has provided cell phones to its hearing impaired and mute students, who use the devices to communicate via text.

The 14th annual gala raised $105,000 for Home of Hope, founded in 1999 by pathologist Dr. Nilima Sabharwal. 

In October, Sabharwal received the David M. Lawrence award from Kaiser Permanente, a $10,000 grant recognizing extraordinary efforts in humanitarian services. The award was given for the first time to an international organization; Home of Hope was chosen from among 175 nominations nationwide.

Home of Hope will also receive the Glory of India award from the India International Friendship Society in January 2012, at the annual Parvasi Bharatiya Divas in India.

Sabharwal later told India-West that the organization is working to strengthen its English Empowerment program and to provide the initiative at each of its 13 projects located throughout India.

Ganisha Sethi, who worked with Home of Hope’s English Empowerment program, told the audience that Indian students were eager to learn English and eager to go abroad and experience the world.

Tanya Shah, who teaches high school in Danville, Calif., taught English to students at the Koshish school in New Delhi. “I was surprised by how progressive the environment was. The students got skills they would not get from their government schools and they got a sense of what technology could do for their lives,” she said.

Home of Hope is also aiming to expand its computer training programs, which it facilitates in collaboration with the NIIT computer training institute. The organization has also entered into a collaboration with the University of Iowa, in which students enrolled in the “Study Abroad” program can volunteer at a Home of Hope project and mentor younger children.

Sabharwal said HOH also hopes to expand its village library movement, which currently loans books to 40,000 students on the outskirts of Pune, via a mobile van.

As the banquet got underway, Surya Solanki, 13, of Harker School in San Jose, Calif.; along with Shivali Minocha, 13, also of Harker; and Sameer Saiya, 17, from Amador Valley High School, sold shimmery scarves made by young economically-disadvantaged women at the Mijwan Welfare Society in Uttar Pradesh. The trio also sold cards made from paintings created by students at the Society for the Education of the Crippled in Mumbai, India. 

The trio sold 12 scarves at $20 each at the banquet, with 100 percent of the profits benefiting HOH’s projects. Scarves and cards can also be purchased online at craftsofhope.com.

Anoop Judge, Home of Hope’s president, noted that the organization was one of the first in India to provide mental health services to its students. “This has helped kids of trauma to flourish,” said Judge, telling the story of a young girl who lost her mother at an early age, and was abused by her uncle, before being gang-raped with a knife to her throat.

After a few years of therapy at a Home of Hope site, the young girl was asked what she wanted to be, and responded that she aspired to be a psychologist. “I know how much this has helped me,” she was quoted as saying.

“There is nothing wrong with these children, it is just the situation they find themselves in,” said Judge, adding that the Indian government has now mandated that any facility serving children must provide mental health services.

“It is a seed we planted 11 years ago and we have watched it grow,” she said.

Four short films by documentary filmmaker Don Hardy highlighted some of Home of Hope’s projects. NBC technology reporter Scott Budman emceed the evening event. The Nupur Folk Dance Academy provided the entertainment along with singer Vikas Singh.

For more information on Home of Hope, visit hohinc.org.