Registered as a Canadian Charity:

Raised funds and built a home and rehab center for about 50 children with disabilities at Amar Seva Sangam (ASSA).

Focused sponsorship of individual children that were rapidly increasing.

Also concentrated on getting more and more donations for the Meal for a Day (MFAD) program, filling almost all the dates of the year. During this period HCI got involved with planning for future expansion.

Sulo Krishnamurthy was appointed as a member of the advisory committee.

Supported various educational and medical projects at Vivekananda Educational Society, Seva Sadan, Bangalore.

Started sending Canadian high school student volunteers to the ASSA center in India. For most of them, their experience at ASSA was a life changing event, directing them towards their choice of studies in medical fields in their Universities. Many graduated as doctors, some chose to become physiotherapists, psychologists, special educators and so on.

Extended support to sponsor the education of 45 students at Maithri Educational Trust, Chennai, India. These students are from very poor socio-economic backgrounds and could not afford education, since the families were using them for child labor. Now 90% of these students are well placed as Accountants, Lawyers, IT professionals, Teachers and entrepreneurs.

Supported the special education and rehabilitation of severely mentally challenged children at Nesam, Tamil Nadu, India.

Rebuilt an entire village in Tamil Nadu (Thonithurai) after the Tsunami had completely wiped out this village. This was done in partnership with CREED, a highly reputed NGO in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India.

Polio was eradicated in India whereas there has been a significant increase in mental disabilities. HCI took the initiative to include them at ASSA. More than 200 children were enrolled. Special education was given to them in available spaces and room which were hardly adequate. HCI raised funds and built a large center for Special Education, consisting of 8 classrooms, a large exercise / therapy room and a large playground equipped with accessible play equipment.

Raised a large amount of funding to support the higher education of girls, that was denied to them by their families. This was done through Dream School, Bangalore.

Started a major initiative to place Canadian students in the medical / therapeutic field in internships for 3 to 4 months. Soon HCI signed contracts with 11 major Universities to have a structured academic program for students’ placements. These placements have become so successful that now we can not accommodate all the students who wants placements. These placements are academically accredited and the students get a credit leading to their graduation from the University with a Masters degree.

Another milestone year when HCI took the initiative to start the Early Intervention program for children with mental challenges. Today this is an Internationally recognized award winning program that is expending all over India with the potential for implementation in African countries.

Expanding on the idea above, HCI built a center at ASSA to offer services for 50 or so children with severe mental disabilities. Soon the word spread and ASSA started to receive applications from 200, 300, 500 and more children from the surrounding communities. HCI could not raise enough money to offer services to all the children in need. HCI came up with a brilliant idea to apply for funding from Grand Challenges, Canada (GCC). GCC’s requirements were that the proposal be an “Innovation with Bold ideas leading to Big Impact”. HCI’s young Director Dr. Dinesh Krishna came up with a brilliant idea to tap in to the widely available G3 connectivity in India which was very affordably priced. Thus the “Enabling Inclusion” app was developed over the next 5 years, with GCC’s funding and a matching funding from HCI.