A New Friend and Supporter for Meher

Thomas Parrish, shown above with his teacher Maggie Gruber and chess teacher GM Yury Shulman, is a chess student from Barrington, IL. He fund-raised for Meher already as part of the initiative through Chess Without Borders, chose to support Meher by asking for donations towards her education instead of gifts at her birthday party. The United States Chess Federation published an article about Thomas's efforts.

Meher's New Clothes

This is Maggie, a 5th grader from Barrington, IL and an enthusiastic chess player. She and Meher have never met, but she is responsible for much of Meher's new wardrobe! Most of the outfits Meher wears now are from donors in the US, and Maggie and her parents were especially generous. The summer clothes are light and very suitable for the intense Delhi heat (it is reaching 45c/110F more often than not nowadays!), and wearing a trendy outfit helps distract Meher from the dread of yet another trip to the hospital (she still dislikes going although she says herself the expansion is not actually painful).

Thank you Maggie for the lovely clothes!

Good News

Dr. Khazanchi, our plastic surgeon who ultimately made all of this possible, has now become a fund-raiser as well! He called me on Friday to tell me the good news: one of his patients who also has an expander just like Meher had been waiting with Meher and started talking to her. She became interested and ask Dr. Khazanchi about the charity project. He gave her all the background, and she was inspired by the story and wanted to donate. So her parents gave a donation to Dr. Khazanchi right away!
I went to Dr. Khazanchi's house yesterday to pick up the donation. Here he is with his wife, son, and nephew. His wife is also a physician and very committed to community service.

Meher's New Friend

My childhood friend Mattie arrived in New Delhi on Saturday night. She came from Chicago, so brought more donations from supporters in Barrington and a camcorder so I can continue documenting everything that is happening with Meher. She met Meher today and gave her the very cute clothes sent from parents at Grove Avenue Elementary School.



Meher was very excited both by Mattie and the new camcorder. She invited us to her house and her mother insisted that we drink tea there, despite the fact that her father was sleeping and we didn't want to disturb him! Meher was very excited to have a new visitor and showed us lots of things in her house. She also took a liking to Mattie's digital camera and showed a lot of interest in photography, especially taking pictures of herself!