About us
Our journey
We began in 2005 with an exclusive focus towards providing quality education to economically under-privileged, vulnerable and deserving students who dream big.
The Foundation was born as a small movement by a network of people, in memory of their close friend Sugun Thomas.
Sugun Thomas cared for the destitute and firmly believed that they needed lot of financial support and empowerment in improving their livelihood. As an individual he had been donating regularly to provide education for disadvantaged children.
Since then, the Sugun Thomas Foundation has been relentlessly working and has been successful in transforming lives of hundreds of students.
About Sugun
Sugun Thomas was born on October 29th, 1966 to Alexander Thomas and Elizabeth.
He did his schooling in Don Bosco, Chennai and a few years in between at St Xavier’s, Bombay. He pursued Mechanical Engineering at Anna University, Chennai and later at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi.
His career began with Larsen and Toubro’s Earthmoving Machinery Division, the worked with Pepsi India, L&T Audco, Burns Philp before rising to become the Country Manager of Heat and Control Pte Ltd, South Asia. He married Susan Preeti Verghese in 1990 and they were blessed with two children, Shreya, and Siddarth.
He was always remembered as an enthusiastic, caring person living his life to the fullest with interests in a wide variety of subjects. He brought positive vibes wherever he was, loved to engage in animated discussion and debate for greater causes. He was one of those rare individuals who made time for relationships and was a go to person for his close aides to ask advice on various matters.
Tragically Sugun Thomas passed away on October 27th, 2005 much ahead of his time leaving his family, friends who continue to remember him through the kindness and compassion of all who knew and loved him.
The children nurtured by the Sugun Thomas Foundation are the real inheritor’s of Sugun’s wonderful and loving life
Our Objectives
The Foundation’s objectives are:
- To help provide educational and social opportunities for young people that will enable them to address issues of inequality and disadvantage which they face.
- To help raise a generation of responsible and creative individuals, active in shaping their own lives, local communities, and the future of the country.
- To promote different initiatives aimed at providing equal educational opportunities, helping young people solve their problems, encouraging self-reliance and in the process integrating children from different economic and cultural backgrounds.
Our Philosophy
Many young people today face problems such as economic hardship, conflicts at home and school, unequal educational opportunities, unemployment, and unclear career prospects. The aim of STF is to provide support- financial, mentoring and skilling, which will have a direct and significant impact on the lives of deserving young people.
Based on the above, the immediate goals are:
- To assist promising students in need of financial support to achieve their potential and further their development.
- To improve the employment prospects of underprivileged children by providing the required facilities for higher education.
The STF is an Indian organization with a dedicated and self-motivated team committed to the cause of improving the lives of under privileged children. A honorary group of committed Trustees assisted by a Management Committee closely reviews, monitors and recommends initiative(s) in partnership with various action groups supporting and directing the activities of the Foundation.
The STF promotes a culture of involvement and sharing to seek support from and engage individuals from all walks of life and institutions alike to partner this cause. The selection and appraisal processes are impartial and aim at the more deserving children and does not discriminate on grounds of caste, creed, religion, language or gender.
Our administrative costs is 5.39% and covers the salaries of two of our employees, printing expenses, and travelling costs.
None of our Trustees or Management Committee earn any remuneration from the Foundation.
KEY OUTCOMES
What do we strive for?
Education for Empowerment
Mentoring & Life Skills
The STF Mentorship Program aims to provide life skills, confidence and access to very experienced mentors who will walk with their children all the way
Instil Self-sustainability
STF’s personalized attention to each child offers an opportunity to widen their horizon and become much more confident to face life
Team
Meet our Trustees
ANITA GEORGE VETTATH
Elder sister of Sugun Thomas. Anita is a post graduate in Applied Maths from College of Engineering, Guindy. Anita worked in the IT industry and is currently a Director at Kallos Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
K.R. VERGIS
Childhood friend and classmate of Sugun Thomas in Don Bosco. He is Director, Uniware Systems Pvt. Ltd., an IT consulting firm in Chennai. He is a graduate in Mechanical Engineering from Regional Engineering College, Trichy.
ROSHAN J. KURIAN
Childhood friend and classmate of Sugun Thomas in Don Bosco. He is an entrepreneur with diverse business interests having graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Engineering, Mysore.
RAVI CHITTURI
Childhood friend and classmate of Sugun Thomas in school and college. Currently he is the Managing Director of KCP Technologies Limited. An alumnus of Don Bosco School, Egmore, Madras, Ravi graduated in Mechanical Engineering from College of Engineering, Anna University, Guindy, Chennai and did his MS in Computer Science from Alabama A&M University, USA.
SUSAN THOMAS
CHERIAN ABRAHAM
Childhood friend and classmate of Sugun Thomas in Don Bosco. An Entrepreneur with multiple business interests, he is currently running an advertising company, Advision, at Chennai. Cherian graduated in Commerce from Loyola College and completed his Masters in Business Administration from University of Madras. He is the Hon. Treasurer of Madras Medical Mission.
Sashi Rekha
Ms. Sashirekha Natarajan is the leader of Good Shepherd Educators in Asia Pacific region. A dedicated and versatile educator, mentor and leader, she has over 32+ years of experience teaching High School students at Good Shepherd Matric. Hr. Sec. School, Chennai. She is currently leading the Mentorship program with Sugun Thomas Foundation for over a decade where underprivileged, deserving students are supported, mentored and guided from education to employment and beyond.
Hear from our Beneficiaries
Team
Management Committee
The Management Committee is the operational management of the STF. Besides the trustees the other members are:
Dr. Susan Thomas
Hon. Secretary
Mr. Cherian Abraham
Head - Donations
Mr. Ravi Shankar
Head - Communications & Placements
Mr. Vergis K. R
Hon. Treasurer
Ms. Gina Vergis
Head - Selection
Ms. Shasi Rekha
Head - Mentoring
Ms. Sudakshina
Head - Alumni
