The Shakti Fund

At Call Centre of Excellence, our mission is to help people in need – whether by providing training, helping find employment or providing community-based assistance to the less fortunate.

We pride ourselves on being an ethical and community focused company which donates 15% of all profits to helping children in Australia and around the world. We do this through the non-profit organisation we have established, known as the Shakti Fund.

Fundraising balls will be held in major cities across Australia each year to support the Fund. Administrative costs associated with the Fund are covered 100% by CCE to ensure all monies raised go to the children who need it most.

The next fundraising ball is being held on Friday 11th April 2008 at the Newcastle Town Hall. For more information please call (02) 4958 8890 or Contact Us

The Fund currently has two areas of focus, one local and one international:

Ashraya

Established in India in 1991, the Ashraya Social Welfare and Rehabilitation Centre is primarily involved in the care and rehabilitation of physically and mentally challenged children. Facilities include:

• Special School for academic education
• Vocational Centre for job skills training 
• Physiotherapy Centre for motor skills

At Ashraya, the children are taught to be independent individuals, irrespective of the disability they have. In addition, Ashraya has extended its social activities to establish slum schools and stay home care for senior citizens. Ashraya is managed by a board of trustees who are socially sensitive professionals and social activists. 

Ashraya is supported by cash and material donations from well wishers from India and abroad. On 28 September, one of our employees left for India to volunteer her services to the children at Ashraya.

For further information, please visit www.ashraya.bravehost.com

Indigenous Program

Working with leaders in the indigenous community, the Shakti Fund’s goal is to support the nurturing of indigenous children in Rural Australia.

The first of these programs is the Yipirinya School in Alice Springs NT. We at the Shakti Fund are contributing to the school using the proceeds of the Charity Ball being held in Newcastle on Friday 11th April 2008, and donations from the business/corporate community via sponsorship.

Yipirinya School

The Yipirinya School was first established in 1978 by the elders of the indigenous camps surrounding Alice Springs. This school was founded by the elders as they were concerned that their languages and culture were being lost and the Australian Government’s Curriculum wasn’t supporting the preservation of their history.
The school has been situated on its current site for 20 years and has 230 students enrolled in the 2007 School year. Yipirinya provides Childcare facilities and caters for preschool and primary school aged children, and for the last 2 years high school aged children.

The school is one of only a few totally independent schools for indigenous children in Australia and relies totally on government funding and grants as they have no corporate sponsors.

At Yipirinya the children are encouraged to learn to read and write up to four indigenous languages;- Western Arrernte, Central Arrernte, Luritja and Warlpiri;- as well as English, literacy and numeracy. For some children English can be the second, third or fourth language they speak.

The biggest problem faced by the school is the attendance of their students. There is only a 60% attendance rate, which means that by the time the children reach the age of 15 years, they would have missed out on 2 years of schooling.

The school is in desperate need of new buses as they have to pick the children up from the surrounding camps up to an hour’s drive out of Alice on very rough tracks and roads. If the school was to obtain the busses they need, this would help combat the absenteeism issue that the school faces.

If you would like more information about the Yipirinya School or Corporate Sponsorship Contact Us or visit their website www.yipirinya.com.au