About
Mission
LHFA aims to provide opportunities to individuals with disabilities through community partnership, advocating inclusion, job readiness, and independent living.
Vision
To create a world where every specially-abled child and adult can live as the best versions of themselves.
Goals
- Matching each individual’s interests with jobs/internships/volunteer opportunities
- Housing/Living arrangements for those children transitioning into adulthood.
- Partnering up with organizations to provide vocational skills and volunteering positions for our kids.
MEET THE TEAM
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Fatima Rani Yedanapalli
Co-President
Rani is originally from Chennai, India. She moved to the US when she was thirteen years old. She has two daughters, Nancy and Rachel. Rachel has special needs and as a new mom, she was unsure of how to best support her. She didn’t know where to begin or how to navigate through the system. It was a difficult process, but Rachel is happy, healthy, and thriving.
One of the things she is most proud of is the community that she has been a part of. She never imagined so many other parents would be in her same position. They created a small WhatsApp group, which is what Loving Hearts for All was born out of. Starting a nonprofit is one of her greatest dreams. She loves working with families to educate them on available resources, so they too can see their children become happy and independent.
Mona Asthana
Co-President
Mona Asthana is passionate about creating a community to support, uplift, and empower special needs kids and their families. With a daughter who had been diagnosed with cerebral palsy and rheumatoid arthritis at a young age, Mona struggled to find the proper resources, support-system, and sense of belonging for her and her daughter. She decided to make her vision for a community a reality by forming a non-profit to support kids with disabilities and their families. When not working on LHFA, Mona loves to teach martial arts (she is a 4th degree blackbelt in Tae Kwon Do) and learn about human behavior, spiritual healing, and nutrition.
Our Story
In 2017, around 10 South Asian families in Austin, TX came together in search of support for their specially-abled loved ones. In just 3 years, the community has grown to around 100 families. Mona and Rani decided to establish this robust community into a formal nonprofit, Loving Hearts for All.
Loving Hearts for All was born out of a need to properly scale and serve this ever-growing community.