About Us - David, Peter, Brian and Annalisa

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David and Peter's Story

Six years ago I, David, embarked on a journey to India. I went with my friend Sergio Rojas to meet the great humanitarian the Dalai Lama, and, perhaps, to find something spiritual and something inspiring.

The Dalai Lama was kind enough to meet with us for a couple of hours and his family was gracious enough to extend our stay, letting us spend a couple of nights in their home in Dharamsala. I was truly honored to meet His Holiness; truly thankful to his mother and his brother, Tendin Choegyal, for letting us stay with them; and truly captivated by his close friend, Geshe Lobson, who took us to the many monasteries in the country.

The trip not only introduced me to the elegance and the beauty of the Buddhist religion, but also introduced me to the country of India. On that trip I found a nation with great tradition and a great potential. I found a place to which I was sure to visit again.

About a year later I returned with my friend Peter Zonis. The first visit was a spiritual quest, but this visit was for business. We stayed at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai and traveled throughout the city taking in the culture and in search of chances to forge business relationships.

It was on one of these outings on to the streets of Mumbai that we found something more greater than a simple opportunity to turn a profit. We found a family that inspired a compassion I had not felt since meeting the Dalai Lama.

This family of five women- a mother, Sumeeta, and five daughters, Kanti, Nisha, Lakshmi, Ashwani, and Rhoni- were on the streets selling Jasmine bracelets to earn enough to simply buy food for the night.

A roof was beyond them. They slept their nights away in the open air, whether it was a gorgeous night with a perfectly timid temperature or a night plagued by storms and unseasonable chill. Sometimes they would be able to find space in a church, but most often they lay their heads to rest on makeshift beds on the cold, hard ground.

We were captivated not only by the family's plight, but by the ambition and savvy they displayed as they fought to survive.

We bought the mother and the girls clothing, presents, and took them out to the restaurants that they were accustomed to only peering in from the street. As that trip ended we asked the mother if there was anything we could do that would have a lasting impact.

The realities she went on to describe shocked us. The family could not earn enough for a roof over their heads and without a roof (or more accurately without an address) there was no promise of education and desperately-needed government aid. Their lack of terrestrial confines excluded them from the most basic services we take for granted in the United States.

We asked for a number. A number that we may be able to give toward to lessen the family's strife. The number was 20,000 rupees. She would need 20,000 rupees a year to provide housing for her family of five. Converted, this was a mere $350 a year for an apartment that would open the door for education and basic government assistance.

The trip ended with Peter and I setting up an apartment for the family and we began sending $50 a month to help with food, clothing, and, equally important, education, which is an additional cost in India. Now we send $150 a month and the two youngest girls are in school.

We know that this is something we can afford to give and that not everyone is able to give as much, but we believe that we all can give a little and help families that are a reminder that a bright future for an emerging nation does not mean that everyone is afforded an equal array of possibilities.