Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Getting the Sudha Mehta Cancer Foundation off the ground

The idea of starting a Cancer foundation in Mom's memory came from Dad. He was extremely charged to do something about it. I think in some way it helped him deal with the reality. We got an elementary deed in place and started working towards closing the legal paperwork around putting the foundation in place.

As usual some of the things very easy and some difficult. And some were incredibly difficult.
It was easy to get the initial non-govt stuff done. Closing on deal, putting the MOA and AOA in place, getting the initial board in, getting the PAN for the foundation was easy. We could move very quicky on that side of the activities.

We then started talking to the doctors. The first set of doctors that we met were in Jodhpur. They were people of good reputation working at the government hospitals. They showed moderate enthusiasm and willingness to refer cases to SMCF.

The next set of doctors were those who had come in touch with Mom. She had literally charmed them through the treatment and they were more than willing to pitch in. The fact that she had the grace to smile just before going into her final trip to the ICU was inspiring enough to all of them.

Dad did all the leg-work of getting the trust registered. From numerous visits to the Income Tax office to pitching the case for 80G certification. He has been a big force and the one pushing the action. Now we are at a stage, we can focus on the core set of activities. We are contributing the first tranche of funds to organization and are kick-starting the fund raising.

I will be personally writing to many of you over this week and the next week. However, if you want to reach us, we are available at smcfindia [ at ] gmail [ dot ] com

- Prateek

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