VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 1ST APRIL 2007

BAKUL FOUNDATION

What is Bakul Book is immortal.

Landscapes change,

Bakul Foundation is a non-profit organization that civilizations go through ups

promotes volunteerism and channelizes cumulative and downs, tastes alter and
efforts towards community development. As Helen end of the day it is only
Keller said, “Alone we can do so little; together we
can do so much”. That is why we have started a books which tells us all
movement to get thousand of us (to begin with) to- about these.
gether to explore the possibilities of volunteerism
and collective effort by contributing in small ways
to the program Donate books and build a Library.

Our Vision
For us, community development initiatives are not just confined to the “The library is the temple
immediate tangible goals, but go beyond to invoke and instill the spirit
of volunteerism that underlines the project. For example, we plan to of learning, and learning
organize book reading sessions at schools for underprivileged chil- has liberated more people
dren. But we not only aim to make books accessible to socio-
than all the wars in
economically deprived children but also have the more fundamental
goal of creating a group of volunteers among the children and help history.”
them take up their own developmental initiatives, like adult literacy
campaigns within their own neighborhood/community. Bakul Founda-
tion, therefore, not only brings together volunteers for community de-
velopment initiatives but uses their experience and skills to generate
new groups and generations of volunteers. Similarly a tree plantation
programme would not just involve the plantation of trees through volun-
teers, but we shall make a conscious effort to make environmentalists
out of those volunteers. Our vision of what we seek to create is of a li-
brary that is not merely a collection of books but an open forum that ac- Inside This Issue
tively promotes a sensible reading culture among youth; a public space
that is proactively used for making books and the world of knowledge Our Vision 1
accessible to underprivileged children and students; and an institution
that works towards Bakul Pledge 2

Contd on next page... Library Opening 2

Photos 3
 BAKUL FOUNDATION
Page 2

What
can I do
Donate books: Build a
Library aims to find a do-
nor for every book in the
library. Each of us can
contribute by donating
books/multimedia kits or
money to buy the same.
You could also actively
contribute in terms of
ideas and suggestions
and take part in deciding
how to achieve the funda-
mental objectives of the
program by posting your
comments on our blog or
by writing to us at
contact@bakulfoundation.org
Our Vision (Contd from page 1)
generating the spirit of volunteerism among its users to undertake
further initiatives in community development programs. A library
then becomes a potent instrument of building people’s capabilities to
actualize the opportunities of a ‘knowledge economy’ and lessen the
growing socio-economic inequalities.
Bakul Pledge
Bakul Foundation pledge was started on Orissa Foundation Day - 1st April
2006 at http://www.pledgebank.com/Bakul-Library. The pledge was
"I will contribute to the program "Donate Books: Build a Library" but
only if 1,000 other people will sign up."
By 1st April 2007 we had 1011 people (11 over target) signed up for the
pledge. Thanks to all who made this successful.

Library Opening at Bhubaneswar

Bakul Library was opened at Bhubaneswar on 1st April 2007. None of this would have been successful
without your contributions. We have already 6000 books and it is growing as we write this newsletter.
Flip over to the next page to see the photos.

We are on the WEB

Blog : http://bakulfoundation.blogspot.com
Bakul Library Online Coming
Yahoo Group : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Bakul
Soon at bakulfoundation.org
BAKUL FOUNDATION
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Photos at Bakul Library

Online Photo Album : http://www.flickr.com/photos/snapart/sets/72157600042496079/with/443390427