Like other marginalized populations, transportation is a huge barrier to these young people getting to school, getting jobs, getting to counseling appointments, etc. Some of our youth who are still in state care do get monthly passes from DHS, but there are often barriers to get the passes from their workers and they have to be deamed "productive" by DHS supervisor. This means they are working and/or are in school. Those youth who are looking for work or trying to get into school, do not qualify as "productive". Other youth have already been emancipated by DHS so they can't get passes either. A few of our youth qualify as Honored Citizens, but not many and sadly even some of those youth find that label not worth the discount they get. I buy bus passes a couple times a month with our petty cash and hand 1-3 tickets out to youth who are at our office and ask for them, but it isn't enough and the small budget of our non-profit is already stretched (as I am sure you can imagine). Bus ticket donations would be a big help to these youth who are trying to beat the odds.
Programs like this are in such need. Ten books of tickets is just a drop in the bucket, but it's a start. Thanks to all of you who have donated. If you have yet to donate, here's how. And, if you'd like to help any of the individual programs Holiday Fare has helped, I'd be happy to put you in touch with the right folks.
If you've given already, you can continue to help by spreading the word about Holiday Fare, and linking them back to the Holiday Fare blog.
Thanks!
The 10-second barrier is a term used in track and field athletics which refers to the physical and psychological barrier of completing the men's 100 metres sprint in under ten seconds.
Kids get introduced to quite a few topics in the school and outside.It is important for parents and teachers to ensure that what they learn isreinforced from time-to-time. Typical way of assessment in the schools isthrough exams at the end of month, quarter or year. What if there is anopportunity to quickly check their learning progress in fun way in between? Mybeehive provides a platform for suche-assessment.
In 90's the mode of travel for a common man is train or bus forlong-distance; flights are only for rich few and government servants. Aftergetting down at the destination, a bus or auto-rickshaw is a common last mileconnectivity option. For those going on pilgrimage or for people touring otherplaces for pleasure (rare though), the options for comfortable travel were lessand a few were expensive. Travel in the new millennium has become so commonthat even going abroad is not a big deal anymore. In the entire travelexperience, leaving aside the mass transport like flights, train or bus, rentalcar has become the most important aspect. 
Inviting someone for an occasion personally is an Indian tradition.With onsetof mobile phones and increasing traveldistance between people, invitations were extended over phone calls. Aftere-mail has arrived, people just started sending scanned invitation cards.Attending the occasion, irrespective of the mode of invitation, is the norm inmany places of India. But what about the gifts? Guests always had the choice ofgiving the gifts based on their perception of hosts interests and lifestyle.What if the hosts make that choice as well ?
Gone are the days when people call them 'used cars'; the correctterm is 'pre-owned car'. No one is hesitant to buy a pre-owned car if it suitstheir budget and other requirements and one gets a good bargain. But wherewould one buy or sell such pre-owned cars?
From agriculture dominant country, India has moved to servicesdomain in a couple of decades. One of the barometers of economic development isthe employment growth across all sectors. With 6-9% growth in GDP in the lasttwo decades, people were fortunate to find all sorts of jobs across country.With colleges in different regions, talent in pockets for certain areas, skillsin abundance in a few states and opportunities galore far and wide, how wouldpeople find suitable jobs even if they are aplenty?
Who buys shoes and socks online? That would theoretically be lot ofpeople - students, professionals and senior citizens; does that not cover theentire population who knows about shoes and socks? :-)