Yoga Gives Back heads into it's 15th year celebrating record support in 2021 from Global Ambassadors, Volunteers, and Supporters Spanning 30 Countries.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES, January 25, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Yoga Gives Back celebrates its 15th anniversary in 2022 on the heals of a monumental year of growing community support. "The most precious discovery in this journey has been that Yoga Gives Back truly connects all of us: yoga students, teachers, business owners and supporters globally as well as our fund recipient brothers, sisters and NGO partners in India. We are all in this journey together as one family. It is YOGA" according to Kayoko Mitsumatsu, President of Yoga Gives Back.

Here is a snapshot of some prominent milestones in 2021.

YGB funded a new program "Project Shaale" to help 800 underserved children combat learning delays and gaps after an 18-month school closure due to Covid, while supporting dozens of teachers with professional development and resources. Due to a lack of internet and computers, most children in rural India were not able to access online education during the pandemic. Many children dropped out completely; for students lucky enough to return to school, they will require support to catch up in their studies and graduate successfully. Project Shaale reinforces the fundamentals of science and mathematics for government primary school children as a strategy to engage them in experiential, hands-on learning, and attempt to redress the learning delays they have experienced during the school closures.

YGB added 100 students to our five-year SHE (Scholarship for Higher Education) Program to total 400 students attaining a college degree. Donors are proud to witness many students already graduating with Bachelor’s Degrees, making history in their families and communities, becoming role models for younger generation. This program seeds an opportunity for each student to become a real change maker in their communities and beyond. YGB funded the first scholarship student in 2007 - Guruprasad - who is now a doctor and is featured in the video below.

Yoga Gives Back added 25 girls at Shaktidhama Girls Home receiving a safe home and good education, avoiding forced labor, marriage or prostitution, now supporting a total of 75 girls. This group home houses young girls who have been rescued from marginalized communities in Central and Northern Karanataka. Some girls are from Devadasi families where girls become prostitutes for survival at puberty as their mothers and grand mothers did. Now these girls are blossoming with hope as they live in this safe home and receive education to college level.

Yoga Gives Back added one women's group to our SISTER AID microloan and education program. Starting with 50 women and 50 daughters, YGB now empowers 550 mothers and nearly 600 young daughters with this program,In 2010 the late Barbara Piner of Los Angeles introduced YGB to NGO NISHTHA in West Bengal. Meeting the women and hearing their stories of financial struggle and gender discrimination gave YGB Founder Kayoko Mitsumatsu a clear insight about their reality as well as their hopes in their lives: dignity, independence and better life for their children.

Yoga Gives Back has many goals to achieve in it's 15th year .

According to Kayoko Mitsumatsu, "Our big dream is to create a level playing field for underserved girls and women by raising funds for WOMEN RISE DIGITAL CENTER in West Bengal. Women and girls need basic computer education and internet access to escape poverty, rise above gender discrimination, and succeed in today’s increasingly digital and global workforce. During the lockdown, without computers or internet, many girls were forced to halt or delay their education and became vulnerable to child marriage." WOMEN RISE DIGITAL CENTER will expand the current pilot Digital Literacy Program located in a safe and centralized area, adding 100 computers to serve at least 2400 women and girls from 35 nearby villages each year. This centralized area will provide critical electricity, internet connections and professional trainers that are not available throughout rural villages. This expansion will serve as a safe hub and model for replication in other rural communities that are seeking to advance both gender equality and economic development.

Yoga Gives Back was born from the idea of one yoga student; she wanted to express her gratitude for the gift of yoga and give back to India, the birthplace of yoga. Today Kayoko Mitsumatsu’s idea has grown into an international effort to support 2400 impoverished mothers and children in India with microloans and education funds. There are many charity organizations within the yoga community, Yoga Gives Back is unique in its focus on giving back to India to support the serious challenges of poverty and related social issues.

Yoga Gives Back (YGB) is a grass roots nonprofit organization that has spread globally with 150 Ambassadors who are yoga teachers and leaders sharing YGB’s mission with their communities as well as raising funds with their events. YGB works closely with NGO partners (Non-Governmental Organizations) in Karnataka and West Bengal India to carry out and grow YGB programs together. Donations empower women and children with basic education, scholarships for higher education, microloans for businesses, and the opportunity to transform their lives and communities.

Please check Yoga Gives Back BLOG for important news and updates. If you would like to sponsor, donate or volunteer, please email info@yogagivesback.org

Kayoko Mitsumatsu
Yoga Gives Back
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Guruprasad is one of YGBs first scholarship students and he is now saving lives during COVID in India and his Mother has a successful microloan business.