Heal: Health & Education for all

MAKING a donation or sponsoring a child are just two of the ways you can help HEAL carry out its important work in removing children from the poverty trap in India.

But have you considered the many other ways you could make a difference?

If you are planning to take part in an endurance event or a sporting challenge, why not take the opportunity to ask family and friends to support your efforts by sponsoring you for a worthy cause?

Holding a ‘curry night’, a pub quiz or perhaps a sponsored car wash are other ways of getting your loved ones involved in raising much-needed funds to help provide shelter, medical care and education to hundreds of disadvantaged children through HEAL’s volunteer work in Andhra Pradesh.

A glance through the news items on the HEAL website at heal.co.uk shows some of the imaginative ways in which generous fund-raisers have chosen to put their ideas to the best possible use, helping to raise thousands of pounds to support HEAL’s efforts, safe in the knowledge that the charity’s minimal administrative costs means that the money is going directly to where it is needed most.

Recent heart-warming stories include a group of family members glorying in the name of ‘The G8 Summits’, who completed their own Three Peaks mountain climbing challenge, and Usha Topiwalla, mother of one of the team members, who provided takeaway curries for more than a hundred of her fellow workers.

Schoolboy Vishal Patel raised money by taking part in a kayak race, while others have held concerts, coffee mornings, raffles and even a bedroom clear-out sale, organised by brother and sister Joel and Abi Knee.

And don’t forget the intrepid team of cyclists from the UK, United States and India who will take part in Cycle India 2012 to give HEAL’s latest and most ambitious project – Paradise Village – a financial boost.

The cost of buying land and creating a purpose-built village to lift a thousand orphaned and impoverished children out of poverty and into a caring, educational environment is high, but HEAL are determined to press ahead with their plans and intend to open the doors to a first intake of children in June 2012.

If you, or perhaps your school, church or other organisation have a fund-raising idea to help give these children a brighter future why not let us know through the HEAL website (heal.co.uk) and we will help you publicise your efforts.

Many of our supporters raise money through the Just Giving website (justgiving.com) making it easy to channel donations direct to HEAL, not forgetting the considerable benefits of gift aid which can greatly enhance the final amount raised.

So, go on, let your efforts make a difference and help us transform the lives of Indian children.