Pottstown Area Health & Wellness Foundation Community Benefit Report Winter 2011: Fill & Download for Free

I think most of you wouldn't know me. I'm Manoj Bhargava, founder of 5-hour Energy.This man was a monk for 12 years, and now owns one of the most successful energy drink companies in the world. His current net worth is $4 billion. While names like Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai are endlessly abuzz in India, Manoj Bhargava is a name you wouldn’t have heard about much. His story will blow you away.Even I stumbled upon him a few days back through the most unimaginable source, a youtube advert.My approach is, make the difference in other people's life, not just talk about it.Manoj Bhargava is an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and founder and CEO of 5-hour Energy, the company which markets the energy shot. He was born in Lucknow, India, and moved to the United States in 1967 at the age of 14.In 2012 Forbes reported his net worth to be around $4 billion, possibly making him the wealthiest Indian in America.​​Early in his life, Bhargava worked at a variety of jobs including construction labourer, cleaning contractor, accounting clerk, taxi driver, printing press operator and business manager. He started a plastics raw material company in 1990, Prime PVC Inc., now called Prime Conduit, which he grew to $20 million in sales and then sold to a private equity firm. After that he started a consumer products company, Living Essentials. In 2004, the company developed the product "5-Hour Energy", which has become a well-known brand in the United StateBhargava's foundations include Knowledge Medical Charitable Trust and Rural India Charitable.The Hans Foundation(The Hans Foundation) is solely supported by the Rural India Charitable Trust, and in five years it has given 300 crore rupee (approximately $48.1 million U.S.). In November 2014, Bhargava committed 500 crore rupee (approximately $80.2 million) to develop villages in Uttarakhand, India.In September 2012, Bhargava joined The Giving Pledge. He has pledged 90% of his wealth to charity, with an emphasis on a common sense approach to philanthropy. Instead of simply giving money, Bhargava believes that personal involvement is necessary.Bhargava attended high school at the Hill School in Pottstown, PA, graduating in 1972 before attending Princeton University. He dropped out after completing one year. After that he dedicated many years to a spiritual education in India and the United States.Bhargava says he spent his 20s traveling between monasteries owned and tended by an ashram called Hanslok. He and his fellow disciples weren’t monks, exactly. “It’s the closest Western word,” he says. “We didn’t have bowler haircuts or robes or bells.” It was more like a commune, he says, but without the drugs. He did his share of chores, helped run a printing press and worked construction for the ashram. Bhargava claims he spent those 12 years trying to master one technique: the stilling of the mind, often through meditation. He still considers himself a member of the Hanslok order and spends an hour a day in his Farmington Hills basement in contemplative silence.Bhargava would return to the U.S. periodically during his ashram years, working odd jobs before returning to India. For a few months he drove a yellow cab in New York. When he moved back from India for good, it was to help with the family plastics business at his parents’ urging. He spent the next decade dabbling in RV armrests and beachchair parts. He had no interest in plastics whatsoever but devoted himself to buying small, struggling regional outfits and turning them around. By 2001 Bhargava had expanded his Indiana PVC manufacturer from zero sales to $25 million (he eventually sold it to a private equity firm for $20 million in 2006). He decided to retire and moved to Michigan to be near his wife’s family. “Nobody moves on purpose to Detroit,” he says. His retirement lasted two months. He knew from his plastics success that the chemicals industry was ripe for exploiting. “Chemicals are really simple,” he says. “You mix a couple things together and sell it for more than the materials cost.”The Mystery Monk Making Billions With 5-Hour EnergyWait. He has undertaken to save the world now.It's going to affect a few billion people.He has started a project called Billions in Change to find solutions for the most important global problems. The solutions include:-Free Electricity.NRI billionaire Manoj Bhargava to distribute stationary bikes to power homes in India - The Economic TimesRenew - HealthRainmaker - Water (Desalination of sea water)He’s also giving away 99 percent of his fortune in an effort to try and save the world, one project at a time.Currently, he is concentrating on three areas: water, energy and health. His plan of attack is to deliver products which directly impact humanity on a large scale, to make a difference in the lives of billions and “not just talk about it.”And his work is never quite done.In the film Billions in Change, you’ll see what projects he’s working on, including the Rain Maker, Free Electric and Renew.​​This is the official film of Billions in ChangeJust look at the way he talks common sense.I don't do cool. I don't wanna be cool, Actually I can never be cool *laughs*What I think, he's damn cool.

I live in the town next to Pottstown and I don't think much of Pottstown. I don't know the crime rate but I know there are shootings and I know some people say Pottstown is okay during the day but to avoid it at night. It pretty much looks like any small town in America. There is an outlet mall outside of town and there is a nuclear power plant. There is a Community College. Pottstown is approximately 45 miles from Philadelphia and 30 miles from reading. There are many fine doctors and a for-profit community hospital in Pottstown. There is senior citizen housing downtown and at any given time you may see some of the mental health community walking downtown and you can tell they have not been taking their medications. These are just some of my personal observations. I have been in the area over 10 years.