The Parivari Award has been given to Ama Foundation supporters who have gone above and beyond for the Ama Ghar family since 2019. The word "parivari" in Nepali means "family," and the recipients have all treated our children as their own family, dedicating their time, their expertise and their resources to make the children's dreams come true. Previous Parivari Award recipients are Fred Doar, Dave Carey, Niley Shrestha, Paramesh Adhikari and Barbara Moffat. It is safe to say that without these people and this year's recipients, Ama Ghar would not be what it is today.

Matthew (Matt) Heffelfinger, the recipient of this year’s Parivari Award, was devoted to Ama Ghar  even before it was founded – care and support of at-risk children in Nepal runs in his family.

Matt, a graduate of Bowdoin College in Maine, was teaching ESL in China in 1987 when his parents invited him to trek with them in Nepal. They had been invited to join the trek by Olga Murray, who founded Nepal Youth Foundation  (NYF) in 1990. Shrawan was one of a group of former residents of  Paropakar orphanage who joined them on the trek, and he and Matt became good friends. During that trip, Matt’s parents became involved with NYF and worked with Olga to make it a legal nonprofit entity.

Olga inspired Shrawan, as did his godmother Ama Tika Basnet. When Shrawan moved to San Francisco, he started a social group of Bay Area Nepali friends that included Matt, Paramesh Adhikari, Niley Shrestha, Yuvak Tuladhar and others who would band together with Shrawan in 2001 to create a new nonprofit called The Ama Foundation, supporting a permanent care home in Nepal called Ama Ghar.

Matt remained on the board until 2010, and helped with initial fundraising efforts, including work on the Himalayan Evening by the Bay galas, creating slide shows and ultimately our very first Ama Ghar video. Matt, his wife Chering, and two daughters, Rinchen and Nima, have continued to be avid supporters and visitors to Ama Ghar. Most recently, Matt was the creator and producer of our 2021 video “Ama Ghar Then and Now”.