CHENNAI, July 17: Mark Bala, a 17-year-old American teenager, like others in his peer group, loves to "have fun with friends on weekends". But the 12th grade student from Illinois, who has an Indian father and a German mother, is something pretty special. He has collected a whopping $10,522 by his own efforts, and donated it to charity. Moved by pathetic sights of poverty and misery he has been witnessing during each visit to Chennai, where his grandparents live, Mark sent out a letter requesting contributions for the underprivileged, to 1,500 companies. Only some 100 responded, but the contributions were good, the Grand Casino in Minnesota alone contributing $1,000 dollars. The teenager has donated the money to the Home for Handicapped Children here.
