Our program combines chess education with service and philanthropy. Thank you for supporting a nontraditional form of education by sending the money we raise to various programs. I am writing to keep you updated on how we have used the funds provided for Chess Without Borders, a non-profit organization in Barrington IL. Your participation helped us continue the mission of combing learning chess with service and philanthropy enabling us to work on long and several short-term humanitarian projects, develop innovative programs and nurture youth to volunteer.
These are some of the programs we started and maintained through your funds.
• After the death of a dearly loved adult volunteer, Margo Clark, the chess program created a Margo Clark Program for Innovation to promote social entrepreneurial projects under the supervision of Chess Without Borders. Visit: https://patch.com/illinois/barrington-il/margo-clark-center-innovation
• Youth volunteer Nabeel Rashid introduced the chess program at the Youth UN to another youth volunteer who asked for 20 textbook donations and 10 chess sets to Syrian refugees in camps in Amman, Jordan.
• Chess program started in an adolescent psychiatric hospital to reduce anxiety. 20 textbooks and 10 chess sets donated to special education teacher Peter Wulff (Riverside Psychiatric Hospital) A salary was paid to the teacher to structure the program. This enabled chess to be used as a therapeutic agent. https://patch.com/illinois/barrington-il/chess-therapeutic-agent
• Another youth volunteer Vishal Ahuja created a chess club at The Boys and Girls club in Austin Texas. 10 chess sets and 10 textbooks were donated to start this project.
• Youth volunteer Divine Mugarwave created an informal chess club at her home in Kampala, Uganda during her summer holidays. She traveled with 5 textbooks + 3 chess sets to Uganda to create the program in her home
Visit: https://patch.com/illinois/barrington-il/sunny-hill-school-students-shine-uganda
• A chess club started in a rural school in Madurai, Tamilnadu, India that serves refuge children from Sri Lanka who whose families were displaced in the long civil war in Sri Lanka. 10 chess books and chess sets donated to youth volunteers Pranav and Prashanth Ramachandra.
• A United Methodist Church in Saline, Ann Arbor MI wanted to start a chess program to complement its educational program for children of refugees so 10 textbooks and 10 chess sets were donated to the UMC in Saline Ann Arbor.
• Chess Without Borders youth Siddharth Gehlaut and Rohan Ahuja created a chess program at The Boys and Girls club in Elgin IL 2 years ago. In summer youth teach chess and interact with children who learn skills form each other.
20 textbooks+10 chess sets donated to Boys and Girls club of Elgin
• 20 Textbooks were donated to local schools to support fundraisers at Countryside and Rose Elementary schools in Barrington IL.
• A long tern yearly project supporting a Christmas lunch for 150-200 families of x prisoners in Chicago was continued through your funds. This project is important as it brings the community together as volunteers to serve families struggling to build their lives.
• Ten years ago, Chess Without Borders raised funds to provide medical treatment for a little girl living in the slums of Delhi, India. This little girl named Meher was severely burned in a fire when she was an infant. The organization raised funds for Meher to receive medical treatment. The plastic surgeon in India was so inspired by the example of students that he donated his services. Long term project where Chess Without Borders supports the education of this disabled girl from the Sarika Vihar slum in Delhi and runs a computer center in the same slum was supported through your funds. Periodically youth and adult volunteers have visited this slum in Delhi, India to volunteer and develop the computer education program.
Watch this short documentary describing this project
Youth at this program as young as 6 or 7 years old start volunteering by helping raise funds through selling food with other volunteers at chess tournaments. Students engage in long-term projects so they become aware of challenges and successes of the projects. Meher is 14 years old now. Youth become deeply involved with raising funds through publicity, marketing and helping with technology for increasing the scope of the project. The depth of engagement is reflected in the fact volunteers helped create a computer center at this same slum that is bringing computer education to 300 students in India. Once they realized the tremendous impact they can have, they were instrumental in establishing the computer center.
Youth take on a leadership roles in running the projects. They bring technology skills and knowledge gathered from sustained work in the projects. When they turn
16 years old they are invited to the UN Youth Assembly in New York on the basis of these humanitarian services.
The chess program trains students to learn chess at high levels that also means that very few tournament directors are available to help run tournaments. Consequently, the work of students is valuable in maintaining high standards. This month the high school team won 2nd place out of 128 teams at the IL State Chess Tournament. Visit: https://patch.com/illinois/barrington-il/bhs-takes-2nd-place-state
CWB has won many honors and awards for this work and the program: http://shulmanchess.com/biography-of-chess-without-borders/
Youth in the program won the Presidents Volunteer Service Award for serving over 100 hours each last year. They have honed their technical skills producing a documentary about reaching a landmark goal of donating almost $180,000 to various local and global charities since the program was created 14 years ago.
Here is a short documentary produced by the team that was entered in a Film Festival last fall that summarizes the diversity of humanitarian projects we have contributed towards:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQe0Y1FT3Co
I have had good communications with Omprakash and I have found them reliable and a group of people who know what they are doing. It is difficult for me to explain myself but I give Omprakask 5 stars, the maximun I can give. I hope that in the near future our missions will be closer to each other so that the needy can benefit from our dedication and effort.
I am very thankful for having the opportunity to connect with Omprakash. Not only did they provide me financial support in the form of a grant but also emotional and mental support during the process of my volunteer work. Through the generosity of Omprakash I was able to travel to Mawuvios Outreach Programme (MOP) in Ghana, Africa and start an after school music program for students receiving free education through the organization. The staff of Omprakash were extremely supportive of my vision for the new program and helped me put my thoughts into plans and action. They checked in regularly with me throughout this journey to provide support and to act as a sounding board for my ideas. The after school music program was a great success and I deeply appreciative of the role Omprakash had in making this dream a reality. On behalf of myself and the staff and children of MOP I cannot thank Omprakash enough!! Thank you!
Being involved with the Omprakash Foundation is a truly incredible experience. My journey within Omprakash began with an internship assisting with social media, which inspired me to pursue volunteering abroad within the network. I was even fortunate enough to be awarded a grant to volunteer with a Partner organization in Peru (Building Dignity). For a high school student who was unaware of the intl. volunteering world, the Omprakash staff was immediately welcoming and unwaveringly supportive.
Omprakash creates a platform for NGOs and volunteers to foster the collaboration that can become the foundation for positive and educational volunteer experiences. Moreover, the high ethical standards Omprakash holds for itself and its Partners is unparalleled. From their online program, EdGE (Education through Global Engagement) to the thorough vetting process each Partner org. undergoes, Omprakash steadfastly exemplifies its dedication to illuminating the importance of ethical volunteer practices. Joining this network--which is open to anyone-- is a really special opportunity!
Omprakash is pretty amazing -- such a great and growing international network!! My experience as a volunteer in Nicaragua was very fulfilling, and they even gave me a small grant to do it. Almost better than that, though, is that Omprakash partners with (and vets, and keeps in constant contact with) awesome nonprofits around the world. So if you do one stint through Omprakash, you're in the network, too, and can easily keep doing great things and having great adventures. The idea is a fabulous one and the people who run Omprakash are tireless and enthusiastic and warm and want the best for everyone involved in every volunteer experience.
Omprakash lead me to a great project (Helping Hands Cusco) in Cusco, Peru, in 2011, where I ended up volunteering for six months. It helped make choosing the right organization with which to volunteer easier, and held that organization accountable by checking in and making sure it was on track. Omprakash also made it possible for international donations to reach Helping Hands and made sure they were being spent in a responsible way. It served as a resource as well as advisor.
My involvement with Omprakash was at first accidental. I was searching for organizations that networked between volunteers and local groups, and stumbled upon their easy to navigate website. After volunteering for 8 weeks with one of their carefully screened Partner Organizations, I was impressed enough to want to further understand how the organization worked. Operating as a network between Partner organizations (social impact organizations, generally with limited visibility), skilled volunteers, and donors, Omprakash provides the financial backing and resources that many smaller organizations need in the face of larger, foreign based non-profits. Aside from the amazing mission of Omprakash, its staff is dedicated, easy to contact, and friendly. I have also done intern work with Omprakash, and it was a rewarding, worthwhile experience that felt like a genuine connection to real people, not just a shot in the dark with a huge organization. I would recommend others to volunteer through the Omprakash network, and feel free to contact any of the staff. Awesome organization!
I am a former US Ambassador to Morocco, 2004-2009. While serving there, I was always impressed by the quality and dedication of the Peace Corps Volunteers who came to Morocco. Since I served for 5 years, I had the opportunity to meet hundreds of volunteers when they arrived, visited many in their homes in remote villages, and talked with them again at the end of their two year assignments. Almost without exception it was a deeply rewarding experience that will continue to enrich their lives and provide unique insight into the world we live in, as most former volunteers will attest to. Unfortunately, the Peace Corps process is not very flexible in terms of the time you serve and where you are posted, and feedback from former volunteers is largely informal and not published. Whenever I came across "voluntourism" opportunities, it became clear most were simply vacations with a questionable project or activity to make participants feel better. This was not going to result in the fulfilling life-changing experiences I had witnessed in Morocco.
Then I discovered Omprakash. Dedicated, smart people created a way to link volunteers directly with needy organizations all over the world, with rich feedback and communication tools to help volunteers determine the best fit for them. And, Omprakash did this with minimal cost and overhead, allowing volunteers to do this at a low cost, and a fraction of the cost of the "repaint a fence and say you changed the world" packages from the Travel Agency peddlers. Omprakash is now offering EdGE, Education through Global Engagement which adds online training and mentorship to the experience.
I am now a proud member of the Board and encourage interested volunteers and organizations to discover Omprakash. Ambassador (Ret.) Thomas Riley.
I found Omprakash in 2012 and began working with them in 2013. Not only was their staff readily available to answer any and all questions in a timely manner, you could tell they were willing to go the extra mile. I found a placement for my time in Cameroon via Omprakash platform and applied for a Travel Grant. The interview gave me a very reassuring impression of what the organization stood for as the staff members asked very perplex questions making me dig deeper into my own understandings and motives of going abroad. I then participated in the first year (Spring 2013) of the EdGE program and highly commend the entire curriculum and all of it's educators. I had not one but TWO mentors (one for the travel grant and another for the EdGE program) who were supportive, compassionate and knowledgeable. I had some difficult situations abroad and both of my mentors as well as the founder, Willy, were always by my side supporting me in every and any way possible. This organization deserves a 10 star. Contact me with any questions - antoniamorzenti@gmail.com
Solid nonprofit network with a generous grant program. Partner programs abroad are competitively vetted and monitored...which is a big plus if you are looking for a legitimate program. Omprakash places an emphasis on needed skills and, consequently, tends to draw in both long term and technically oriented positions. Refreshingly, Omprakash throws out the "good intentions" mold and is critical of voluntourism. It's also a pretty generous org that regularly uses its 501(c) status to filter through funds without fee to Partners... and also ensures that Partners also do not charge volunteers exorbitant fees. With respect to its staff, it is an intellectually rigorous core that spends a great deal of time reviewing partners in the field. The EdGE Program showcases both the competence and intelligence of Omprakash staff very effectively.
I searched for 2 years and met with dozens of organizations to find the right non-profit board to join. I was looking for an organization with a clear and focused mission, truly meaningful and global impact, that was well underway in delivering transformational value and ready to take it to the next level. I also screened carefully for the team in place. I found dedicated and passionate people everywhere but only at Omprakash was I moved by the inspiring leader who has the whole package: vision, intellect and execution. The team supporting him was equally as impressive. Omprakash is changing lives - the lives of its volunteers abroad and the lives of the communities they touch and support through their work and their donations. I am both proud and honored to be a part of the positive change that Omprakash is catalyzing in 40 countries around the globe.
Omprakash is the definition of a great non-profit - focused mission helping fill a real need, led by a leader who is passionate and focused and selfless, with a long track record of accomplishment but still hungry like a startup. Omprakash provides a platform for other global non profits to be found on the web and to fins volunteers. For volunteers, such as students looking to study abroad or complete humanitarian projects abroad or get class credit to intern abroad, the site offers an unparalleled set of possible experiences with the many global non profits. It is truly a platform with global reach. I could not recommend Omprakash any more highly to a potential donor, volunteer, or partner organization.
I first volunteered through Omprakash in 2010. I was able to connect with a school in Peru through their website. I felt comfortable traveling to Peru work with this project because I was able to read blogs and view media from past volunteers and also speak with past volunteers directly. I won a grant from Omprakash in 2011 to continue my work. During that time, I received support and mentorship from Omprakash staff. They nudged me to push my ideas farther and consider how I could make my work sustainable and more meaningful. When I returned home the following year, I stayed on as an Omprakash administrative volunteer. I was able to gain a deep understanding of Omprakash ethos such as the power of human relationships, education and critical reflection. Now, I am a full-time member of the Omprakash team and continue to learn and grow daily!
Omprakash is truly one of a kind non-profit organization. It focuses on enabling and creating network effect towards education, lifestyle and overcoming challenges across the globe. The educational experiences and interconnections that Omprakash offers through the Edge program gives students the toolset and knowledge to form lifelong bonds. For students who are new to volunteering or thinking about Gap year programs, Omprakash provides safe, secure and curated non-profit organization community, by way of transparency, clear goals and one-to-one relationship building process. The team at Omprakash is often found traveling and meeting with new organizations and understanding how they can have a stronger voice at a global scale.
I have worked with the non-profit Omprakash since 2007 and served on the board since 2009. It is truly an organization that puts mission first, holds itself to a high, ethical standard, and puts people first. Willy and his team are committed, caring, and smart individuals that go above and beyond on a limited budget. Omprakash is providing a pathway for people that value a volunteer experience laden with learning, cultural immersion and understanding, and complexity, in a world of pre-packaged, oversimplified, voluntourism trips.