By: Marin Sandieson

Growing Hearts, Growing Minds successfully held its annual Indian street food night on Dec. 7, raising over 600 dollars for the village of Baste, India.

The menu included chicken vindaloo, vegetable tikka masala, naan, kachumber salad and mango cake with ice cream. Students were also able to get free henna tattoos.

“Our ideas for the food were simply Indian dishes that we had enjoyed at Indian restaurants. The dessert (mango cake and vanilla ice cream) was an idea I had from my EL trip to India, because most of the dessert we had was mangos and ice cream. Not surprisingly, it was a huge hit,” said Vice President Jessica Mazzoni.

Volunteers for the event included members of Growing Hearts, Growing Minds, as well as the Alpha Phi Omega and Theta Chi fraternities.

“I think people attending the event enjoyed it a lot,” said Mazzoni. “The food turned out really good . . . I think people were happy that it was a very relaxed atmosphere, and most people stayed after they ate to hang out with friends.”

Growing Hearts, Growing Minds is a student outreach organization that works in conjunction with Allegheny’s EL program to participate in study tours and community-building efforts in India. The organization has helped the villagers of Baste build a new schoolhouse, get school uniforms, put in a new water pipe and create a nutritional meal plan for the children attending school.

” 100 percent of the proceeds from the ticket sales go to the villagers of Baste. All of our proceeds from our events help them out with their sustainability projects. Whether it has to do with education, agriculture or job skills, the villagers use the money how they see fit and it really is a wonderful relationship,” said President Janelle Carlson.

“With funds from GHGM and the Rotary Club of Bombay, two women from Baste were recently able to afford to go to a nearby vocational school to learn tradable skills. They were the first women to attend the school,” said Mazzoni. “GHGM can in no way take credit for the progress made in Baste. The partnership between the people of Baste and the Rotary Club of Bombay has been the primary cause of all of the progress made for the village. GHGM just contributes in whatever needs supported the most, as decided by the villagers.”