MGVS’s Kaplani School
See a six-minute video about the Kaplani School!
The Kaplani School was founded in 2001 in a small mountain community about 5 miles southeast of Mussoorie, at the direct request of the community. The area’s families were seeking a way for their children to continue beyond primary school. The only alternatives were beyond the distances the children could realistically walk each day.
Members of the Kaplani community contacted a local organization named Mussoorie Gramin Vikas Samiti (MGVS), or in English, the “Mussoorie Village Development Committee,” for help. The community said it would provide land and help build two rudimentary classrooms. Families agreed to pay what tuition they could. MGVS agreed to provide 2 teachers and administrative context. The school opened with 11 students spread among grades 6 and 7.
Timberline joined the cooperative venture almost immediately, augmenting the efforts of a small group of local supporters by making very modest grants and matching contributions in support of the school. With hard work, and heartwarming persistence manifested by local support and optimism, the school took root. In 2006 Timberline’s governing body decided that ongoing support for Kaplani School furthered Timberline’s charitable purposes and established a Kaplani School Fund as a restricted fund into which contributions designated for Kaplani are placed and from which grants in support of the school are made.
In 2010, Timberline cooperated with Woodstock School to construct a permanent six room school building made possible by a generous gift from Robin Parker and named the Heidi Parker Building in honor of his daughter. In this same year Lela Folkers established the Mary Jane Folkers Endowment for Kaplani School with Timberline Foundation to promote the inclusion of female teachers.
Timberline then helped MGVS to construct an additional classroom building to make the addition of grades 11 and 12 feasible.
Timberline Foundation matches individuals’ contributions to its Kaplani Fund from its own undesignated funds, or arranges for an outside organization to make that match. Currently, funds for a match of the first $2,000 of outside contributions each year, are being supplied by The Friends of Woodstock School organization.
The school now serves 90 students from grades 6-12. Timberline Foundation believes that this extraordinarily tangible effort is one of its most meaningful activities. We gratefully accept outside contributions in support of this activity. We believe those contributions are making an immeasurable difference in the lives of these wonderful children from the Himalayan Mountains.