Look closely at this picture of a young soccer player in a remote Indian village and tell me what you see ...

If you can make out the crest on her jersey, the letters read E-D-I-N ... Edina? Yup. How does a soccer jersey from one of the wealthiest communities in Minnesota end up on a girl in one of the poorest regions of India? It's a journey as surprising as the man responsible for it.

Franz Gastler was an Edina hockey goalie who went to college at Boston and Harvard universities and became disenchanted with the corporate world. He moved to India, where he became equally disenchanted with the traditional philanthropic organizations in that country. He moved to a mud hut in the village of Mesra, in the Jharkhand region of India, where he taught English to children at a government school. When a girl expressed an interest in soccer, he agreed to help coach a team if she could find other girls interested. That was in 2008.

Fast-forward to today, and Gastler's organization, Yuwa, provides daily practices for more than 200 girls and 13 teams. The organization has given confidence and educational support to hundreds of girls (and some boys) in a region where many girls are illiterate, marginalized and married off before they turn 16, he said. Jharkhand also has an alarmingly high rate of human trafficking that puts these girls at risk.

Gastler is back in Edina this week for a fundraiser taking place from 7:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. Thursday at the Edina Country Club. The event costs $20 and is open to anyone interested in supporting the organization, he said. He'll also be collecting a few more leftover jerseys. The used jerseys from the Edina Soccer Club have become cherished rewards for girls who are regular participants in Yuwa's practices and English classes.

Gastler said Yuwa's players and teams have been wildly successful in games and tournaments, because the girls are so excited to practice and so enthusiastic about soccer. One player even advanced to an Indian national team. But success is measured in the number of girls who are going to school on a daily basis -- even making it to college -- and who aren't being married off in their teen years, he said. Soccer gives the girls a sense of belonging and confidence that is critical to boosting their educations, Gastler said.

"Without that self-belief," he said, "you can come in with all the fancy ideas for education you want, but you're going to have a bunch of kids who can't even speak for themselves."

Below is a video regarding the program from the Yuwa web site. Look for more coverage of this program in the Star Tribune next week!