TPRF Provides Funding for Water Well Maintenance in India

Grant will ensure clean water for up to 250,000 people

LOS ANGELES, April 5, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In honor of World Water Day, The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF) initiated a campaign to raise US$25,000 in matching funds to support The Adventure Project (TAP) effort to provide sustainable water services to almost a million people in West Bengal and the District of Sheohar in Bihar, India.

The TAP vision is to train mechanics to repair wells in rural India, where over one third of wells drilled in the past 20 years are in disrepair. TAP set an ambitious goal to fund the training and initial supplying of 186 mechanics who could help sustain a clean water source for close to a million people.

Like any machinery with moving parts, wells with pumps need maintenance every few months to avoid costly breakdowns. Each mechanic can service up to 50 wells, providing water for an estimated 5,000 people. In the end, TPRF exceeded its goal, raising $27,643, an amount that will train and supply 50 mechanics and help an estimated quarter of a million people.

TPRF helped to fund a similar TAP project last year in the state of Bihar. "These mechanics are now operating in a self-sustaining mode," said Linda Pascotto, President of TPRF. "The goal of this year's campaign is similar, but on a wider scale," Pascotto continued. "The aim is to help provide jobs, training and tools to hire mechanics, each of whom works as an entrepreneur to maintain and fix wells. In addition, TAP provides a one-year stipend to help each mechanic launch his or her business."

Training mechanics to service wells is part of TAP's goal to create a million jobs over 10 years in developing countries worldwide. TAP was established to increase investments in positive social enterprises around the world, according to founders Becky Straw and Jody Landers.

"I cannot thank TPRF enough," Straw said, "for all their support, inspiration and shared belief in investing with dignity."

About The Prem Rawat Foundation (TPRF)
The Prem Rawat Foundation promotes Prem Rawat's message of peace and his vision of addressing fundamental human needs so that people everywhere can live with dignity, peace and prosperity. For more information, visit: www.tprf.org.

SOURCE The Prem Rawat Foundation