Ashraya Project

Beautiful Article about The Ashraya Project on The Best Of SL Magazine

annasapphire — Mon, 03 Sep 2012 17:05:29 +0000

Thanks to Persia Bravin and The Best Of SL Magazine for this beautiful article about The Ashraya Project on their September 2012 issue!

The Ashraya Project: Beautiful Teamwork

Words: Persia Bravin

Images: Courtesy of Padma Chidambaram

Perhaps there’s no better use of Second Life than as a platform to help raise both awareness and funds for real life charities that really need our support. When used properly, when all is transparent and accounted for and when you can be absolutely assured that your hard earned cash is going to directly benefit those who need it, then making money for worthwhile real life causes can be a great use of your time inworld. One woman who understands this more than most is the current Miss Virtual World, Anna Sapphire.

Over the last few months, Anna has worked tirelessly to help produce two major fundraising events within SL that have benefited real life charitable organisations. It’s a well-known fact that most charities take a while to account for their donations due to strict charity regulations, but on July 17th the staff at the Neelbagh School in India (who were the beneficiaries of all money raised via the recent Ashraya Project in SL), delightedly confirmed the funds donated by kind SL residents had reached their account – and was already being put to good use!

It’s because of Anna and the 160 other SL residents including designers, artists, sponsors, media organisations, bloggers and DJ’s that the Ashraya Project in SL was such a huge success. The event ran from May 28th until June 4th 2012 and was visited by literally thousands of fashion conscious residents with deep pockets and big hearts, with a massive L$ 1.011.454 eventually being raised. All proceeds will directly benefit the children in India and will also help support the running costs of the school to help it become sustainable and to continue to provide services for the youngsters long into the future.

Being Miss Virtual World can be both a blessing and a curse: over the past four years, I have personally interviewed all of the women who have held this title and each of them have said that despite the negative side effects (the baseless gossip, predictable slander and complete untruths written about them), that the most rewarding aspect of wearing this crown is the chance to help others – and Anna is no exception. “What made me literally cry was to see so many people asking me how they could help,” says Anna, showing me the bank receipt from the real life charity, “I discovered a new side to the SL community: a human, kind and generous side and I will always be grateful to all the people who supported this cause.”

It’s because of all those kind and generous people in SL that the children and staff at the Neelbagh Rural Residential School now face a much brighter future and the photos shown here help illustrate exactly how every single L$ raised can make such a huge difference. If you were one of the people who attended the Ashraya project in SL, if you bought one single thing, blogged this event, donated your time and skills or simply added a couple of spare L$ to the pot-then give yourself a big pat on the back, because you have helped change the lives of others for the better. Last words must go to the amazing Anna Sapphire: “It’s so wonderful to see how a good cause could really move so many people and create a beautiful team work.”

http://www.ashraya.net/subpages/Sponsorship.html

Photos of the children in class

annasapphire — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 12:50:29 +0000

These photos show the children we are sponsoring and have been sent to me today by Padma, my referent at Ashraya.

Apart from academic building, the children at Neelbagh School are given vocational training and empowered with certain hand skills which may help them later in life. In some of these photos we can see the children learning tailoring and carpentry.

Click to view slideshow.

Annual Day Celebration Photos

annasapphire — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 13:39:31 +0000

“Here are some pictures of the annual day celebration at Neelbagh School that was held recently (13th Aug) at the School. The children participated very enthusiastically in sports and various cultural activities. They put up a grand show for the guests, parents and staff.”

(Photos courtesy of Ashraya)

Click to view slideshow.

Photos of Neelbagh School

annasapphire — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 13:27:53 +0000

These photos have been sent to me from Padma, my referent at Ashraya, to show you the children and the school we are supporting with this project.

Neelbagh Rural Residential School of Ashraya is in Bangalore, India. For more information please visit:

Neelbagh Rural Residential School: http://www.ashraya.net/subpages/Sponsorship.html

Click to view slideshow.

Receipt from Ashraya

annasapphire — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 11:55:13 +0000

Ashraya was finally able to answer to my email and send me the receipt I’m happy to show you.

(As you know I introduced myself with both SL and RL surname. In the receipt I covered only my RL surname).

EMAIL FROM ASHRAYA:

This is even more of what I could hope to do with this project: we are going to sponsor a class of children in their studies and even contribute to the functioning of the school.

RECEIPT attached to the email:

Once again, my sincerest gratitude for all the support to this project!

Money Transfer to Ashraya Completed!

annasapphire — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 14:24:09 +0000

It took some time but I’m finally happy to show you the receipt of the money transfer to Ashraya.

Padma, my referent at Ashraya, will send me soon their receipt and I will post here as soon I get it. I would like to thank once again all the people that took part in the event working and donating to this meaningful cause.

Second 511,495 L$ Transfer to PayPal Completed

annasapphire — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 15:28:55 +0000

Last Saturday (June 23) I got the confirmation that my PayPal account received the second transfer of 511,495 L$ but I had to wait few days because PayPal temporarily blocked my account waiting for my rl documents to confirm my identity (because of European laws PayPal has a monthly limit that I exceeded with these two transfers).

Today they removed the block from my account and I’m happy to confirm that all the money raised at The Ashraya Project are now on my PayPal account, as you can see in the screenshots.

From my email:

From PayPal:

I’m now waiting for a reply from Padma, my referent at Ashraya, to know if I have to wire transfer the money to their bank account or if they decided to activate a PayPal account (this way it would be easier and faster to transfer the money). I will keep you updated about this and hope they will let me know soon, so we can conclude our donation.

Second 511,495 L$ Transfer to PayPal

annasapphire — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 06:01:27 +0000

LL was fast to answer to my ticket and increase my limit, so I immediately completed the second transfer to my PayPal account, as you can see in the screenshots:

And again we have to wait some days for PayPal confirmation and I will be ready for next step

First 500,000 L$ Transfer to PayPal Completed

annasapphire — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 03:35:45 +0000

Today I got the confirmation that my PayPal account received the first transfer of 500,000 L$

From my email:

From PayPal:

I submitted a ticket to LL asking to review my limits allowing me to transfer the remaining 5011,495 L$ without waiting a month (because of trading limits, as you can see in the screenshot).

First 500,000 L$ Transfer to PayPal

annasapphire — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 12:59:10 +0000

Yesterday I made the first L$ transfer to my PayPal, sending the first L$ 500,000 raised at The Ashraya Project.

Now all I have to do is to wait for PayPal to confirm the money arrived, and I will be ready to make the second Lindens Transfer.

Since Ashraya doesn’t have a PayPal account, I will send the money through an International Transfer to their account.