About FoC
ABOUT US
Friends of Children (F0C) was founded in 2003 by a group of individuals with a dream to lend a helping hand to society. The underlying objective was to reach out to deserving youth using education as a medium to help them grow as strong individuals with an opportunity for a sustainable livelihood. What an incredible journey it has been...8 years and going strong.
Our core objective is still the same – “Empowering through Education”. FoC sponsors higher education as well as vocational education for meritorious students subsequent to their initial school years. At present we do not accept applications for sponsorship below standard 10.
From 26 students in 2003 we now have around 350 students across the greater Maharashtra region. Our activities have also widened to include a number of complimentary areas in addition to financial support, such as provision of textbooks, trainer camps & skill sessions, mentor & guide networks, Spoken English training sessions etc. We continue to grow and evolve.
There are many ways that you can help –please check the "How Can I help - Important Donor information" link for additional details.
Every child has a DREAM & YOU have the POWER to fulfill it.
Our Engineering student Sachin Bankar has been offered a post of Asst Systems Engineer at TCS and will be joining them shortly.He has been sponsored by us for the past 4 years and we wish him well for a bright future. Other updates.. 1. Books for the Manchar library have been sourced and we will be delivering them tomorrow.We tentatively plan to open the office by Dussehra. 2. Vani and Aparna visited all the regions extensively thru Aug/ Sept. Our students have been asked to learn to access the web and also learn to email. The computer labs in all colleges have kindly offered their services for the same. We expect our students to access our website for updates on meeting and workshop details. We have begun posting the schedule already and hope this will become a permanent feature from now on. 3. We are in the process of organising an extensive workshop schedule which will cover every region at least once a month. Trainers from Pune will travel and handle the sameAs per present plans this will be set in motion from mid October.
On September 08, we had a series of meetings with all our students in the Ale phata, Narayangaon, Junnar, Ghodegaon, Manchar areas. Our volunteers (Vani, Aparna and Ajay) visited all the the regions and spoke to the students about the new training programs planned for them in the year. The new guidelines were also discussed with everyone. From this year onwards all students will be taught to use the internet and email usage by the end of September. After that all students will need to access our website to get information regarding all meetings, training dates which will be held in all regions. This will help students get more internet savvy in addition to being aware of all activities which will be conducted from time to time in all regions. This year we have prepared a detailed curriculam for soft skill trainings, computer skills, English skills and social responsibility which will be imparted to the students over a course of three years. All meetings were well attended by the students and regional volunteers and students were very enhusiastic about the coming year activities and training plans.
The busiest time of the year for FoC begins from this month. With new admissions and fee distributions scheduled for all the regions, the next 3 months will be jam packed with activities.
August - 8th Interviews of new students for Saswad and Baramati
August -14th Interviews of new students in Rajgurunagar, Manchar,Narayangaon, Junnar August 29th Interviews of new students in Pune
Sept. 5th Fee distribution for Saswad, Baramati
Sept. 11th, 12th Fees distribution for Rajgurunagar, Manchar, N'gaon, Junnar, Ale
Sept 15th Fees distribution for Pune students
Sept 18th, 19th Interviews and fees distribution in Sangli
Sept 25th, 26th Volunteer training program
Unfortunately because of the several cases of Swine Flu in Pune, we have been advised by doctors against conducting a residential camp in Pune. Hence the August camp stands cancelled.
FOC will be organizing for the next residential camp in Pune from 26 - 31 August 2010. Like our previous camps, this too will focus on overall development of our students. Students are requested to get in touch with their local FOC volunteers or with the Pune office to register for the same.
