Sadhana Madnani first joined ECF Children’s Fund as a 13-year-old volunteer during a family visit to Ethiopia. Since that first visit, her passion and commitment have never wavered. Over five return visits, she led art classes, raised critical funds—including $15,000 for restoring the school’s water system and over $20,000 through a bracelet-making project, which funded the Sadhana Art Center, a basketball court, and a girls’ tutoring program at ECF. Now a university graduate in Art Therapy, Sadhana continues to be one of ECF’s most dedicated ambassadors, using her art and voice to share ECF’s mission and raise funds through exhibitions and creative initiatives. Her impact remains deeply felt by everyone at the school and community.
Adey Getaneh Haile-Mariam, has been a dedicated volunteer with ECF since its early years, initially supporting public relations and fundraising efforts in the United States. Her most meaningful contribution came after completing nursing school, when she returned to Ethiopia for the first time since childhood to volunteer full-time at ECF Village in Aleltu. During her nine-month stay, Adey played a key role in establishing the ECF Village Clinic and strengthening relationships with guardians, community members, and potential supporters in Addis Ababa. Working alongside local Health Officers, she helped develop systems for basic, cost-effective healthcare and nutrition services, including health assessments, growth monitoring, and medical recordkeeping. Adey also led staff training on preventive health, childhood disease management, child development, and first aid. Her work included identifying environmental health risks and launching “Parents-Can-Prevent” seminars. Adey’s efforts have had a lasting impact on the wellbeing of ECF’s vulnerable children, a cause she describes as one of the most rewarding human experiences of her life.
Michael Audi and Daniel Asrat Brown are life long friends and have been passionate ECF volunteers since the age of 3. To fundraise for ECF, they ran a lemonade stand outside of Central Park in New York City every summer until they turned 14.
At 15, Daniel and Michael endeavored to increase their impact and organized a month long campaign on CrowdRise. Their marketing efforts and hard work resulted in raising over $14,000 USD for ECF.
To this day their commitment to ECF continues, including increasing ECF awareness and participating in fundraising events.
