2017 Humanitarian Project visit personal Stories from the group. 

Marcel Gorka, RVCC Rotaract club member who is participating in the Nepal Humanitarian Trip.

From a young age Marcel felt the need to help others. In the seventh grade he would volunteer at his church, becoming a tradition of service that continued through high school and into college. Now a student of social science at Raritan Valley Community College, he also works with children at the local YMCA. His studies and work augment the love of helping others.

After a chance encounter with Dr. Tulsi, Marcel learned of a greater opportunity to impact the lives of others. Till now Marcel’s giving focused on his local community. Through the Friends of Nepal - NJ Marcel is embarking on a journey to help those in need across the globe. Joining the Asha Project he will help bring hope back to Nepal. Asha, which means hope in Nepali, provides relief to people in Nepal by not only providing micro credit loans to hard working people throughout Nepal, but by organizing volunteers, like Marcel, to help rebuild homes destroyed in the massive 2015 earthquake. Most of the nation was affected and many people still need homes, and children desperately need schools. Marcel and the Asha Project will bring them much needed supplies for schools and homes.

We believe every child should have access to quality education. We provide scholarships, teacher trainings and provide school resources. 100% of online donations go to FONNJ programs.

FONNJ provides education, health and micro-Credit and Women Empowerment projects to poor communities in Nepal who have little or no other access to these vital services. Our programs also include social services and cultural preservation.

FONNJ's projects are developed in direct response to the needs and aspirations of the local communities we serve. The projects range from a large micro-Credit project in Nepal to small dispensaries, from scholarships to 150 children to scholarships for higher education for young women, from helping village grandmothers become self supporting to helping for the abandoned elderly.

Our beneficiaries range in age from young children to the elderly. We give special attention to the education, cultural preservation and empower women.

Over 50 projects have been accomplished since 1990, and more than 70,000 beneficiaries are served annually.

Please learn more about our projects through this website. More details on individual programs can be found under Projects.



Under the joint sponsorship of Business Professional Women of Patan, Friends of Nepal-New Jersey (FONNJ) and Rotary  District 7510, started distributing goats in Patan area. 30 goats were distributed to families living in villages outside of Kathmandu. It brings me great pleasure to report on the success of the Micro-credit Goat Distribution and to know that the reciprocal nature of this program will continue to grow with each generation of newborn goats.  
As of 2016 we have distributed more than 100 goats in Nepal and many baby goats have been given to second waiting gamilies.

Joe Yunizzi