Vidhayak Sansad and Shramjeevi Sanghatana would not be what we are today without Kathy Sreedhar. She has been with us through the darkest moments of struggle and rejoiced with us in each victory. Her guidance and example have inspired us for a quarter of a century.

Kathy is director of the Holdeen India Program, a part of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. She has been involved in supporting struggle movements and campaigns of the oppressed throughout India and the world. Kathy met the men and women of Vidhayak Sansad in 1984. Vivek and Vidyullata were deep into the struggle against bonded labor in those days, but Vivek didn't think funding agencies wanted to hear about social campaigns. When he met Kathy he only spoke of the 'pigs and goats' development projects that they were engaged in. But Kathy, a long-time political and social activist who has marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, wasn't interested in supporting development programs. Not until a later trip to Vidhayak Sansad did she discover our campaign for the freedom of bonded laborers. Since that visit she has been our most dedicated and devoted friend.

It was Kathy who encouraged us to take an organizing approach to fighting for social justice. She strategized with us, supported us, and connected us to other struggle organizations around the world. She nominated Vivek and Vidyullata for the Anti-Slavery Award of 1999 and Vivek for the Advocacy Institute Fellowship in 1990 and the Eisenhower Exchange Fellowship in 2000. She has supported the creation of numerous new Vidhayak Sansad initiatives, including Samarthan, National Center for Advocacy Studies, and Center for Budget Studies. She has brought union leaders, social activists, journalists, and dedicated volunteers from around the world to the Usgaon campus. The list of her contributions is as endless as our gratitude to her. The building of the Eklavya Parivartan Vidyalaya, our school for tribal girls, has been named in her honor.