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"PinterestFacebookNominated by her friend Virginia Fitt, 26, Durham, North Carolina\nWhy Elizabeth is amazing:\nDuring a high school study abroad program in Pune, India, Elizabeth saw extreme poverty firsthand. She was so moved that, as a freshman at Emory University, she started Pune&amp;#39;s Ashraya Initiative for Children, which began as an orphanage and now serves thousands with the addition of its health clinics, education programs and community outreach services. But Elizabeth isn&amp;#39;t just the program&amp;#39;s cofounder; in addition to being the mother of a 17-month-old biological daughter, she is also &amp;quot;mom&amp;quot; to 12 children in India. Elizabeth, a native of New York, and her husband spend almost all of their time in India, where they raise seven girls and five boys, ages 3 to 18 years old, who were all either orphaned, abandoned by their parents or victims of physical or sexual abuse. One of the youngest girls in the family, now six years old, supported her parents by begging for money on railway trains. The youngest boy, now three, was beaten by his alcoholic father and almost died of malnourishment; he weighed only 10 pounds at 12 months old. Today all of Elizabeth&amp;#39;s children are one (very) big happy family, attending school, reading for fun and going to soccer practice on the weekends. Her children are also &amp;quot;adamant&amp;quot; about attending college one day. She plans to keep growing her brood until it reaches 18 (including mom and dad) because she wants to keep it &amp;quot;like a family&amp;quot;&amp;#8212;and says she is committed to supporting her children even after they become adults.\nIn her own words: &amp;quot;You don&amp;#39;t have to wait five years or until you&amp;#39;re settled down to do something. You can do it now.&amp;quot;\nVote for Elizabeth Sholtys now!"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/story/women-of-the-year-readers-choice-award-2010-nominee-elizabeth-sholtys>