Heal: Health & Education for all

HEAL sponsors Chris and Tina Leach, from the global aircraft charter company Air Charter Service, had an experience that will stay with them for the rest of their lives when they paid a flying visit to the Children’s Village in Guntur.

ACS raised thousands of pounds for Heal last year after agreeing to sponsor new computer labs at the new Paradise Village project in Thotapally, Andhra Pradesh.

Chariman Chris Leach, who formed ACS in his basement in 1990 and has turned it into a global company spanning five continents with revenue in excess of US$450m, and Tina, company secretary and treasurer, were due to visit Mumbai where ACS were opening a new office.

While in India, they decided to take the opportunity to visit the Heal Children’s Village in Guntur to see how their donations would help – and were genuinely overwhelmed by what they found.

Tina takes up the story: “I head up the ACS charity committee and each year we ask staff to help us choose three charities to support – one international, one national and one local.

“However, last year, the committee decided to choose one charity themselves which would be more ‘hands-on’, something staff could get involved with personally if they wished.

“I found Heal after doing an initial internet search for ‘sponsor a child’. It seemed to tick all the boxes – for example, a sponsored cycle ride, the ability to volunteer and the chance to raise funds for an actual building in the new Paradise village. Thankfully, it captured everyone’s imagination.

“Chris and myself were then due to visit Mumbai as ACS are opening an office there. We decided to take the opportunity while we were in India to visit the Guntur Village to see what could be achieved and also see the new site for ourselves.

“I remember I was very concerned about bothering the people in charge there in order to show us around. We were therefore absolutely overwhelmed, astonished and extremely grateful for the reception we received.

“We were literally treated like royalty. We were initially very embarrassed, but once we realised what a special day it was for the children to receive visitors, that feeling soon subsided.

“We found the visit to the Guntur village and the school extremely interesting and moving. The basic layout for the Heal village was particularly inspiring with the housemother system.

“The children seemed genuinely loved and cared for and it was an absolute pleasure to talk to them and see their work and, more importantly, their smiling faces.

“Meeting the children had a real impact on both Chris and me and we will never forget the experience for the rest of our lives. Meeting children face to face who had experienced such hardship somehow brought the problem much much closer to home.

“The new site was very exciting also and the project manager there Steve, Doctor Prasad’s sister Lakshmi and another local benefactor, Dahna Prakash, described the vision for the new Heal Paradise Village.

“It truly was one which made sense, especially due to the plans for the children to learn vocational skills as well as academic subjects.

“We felt this would very much be needed to help build an infrastructure to support the rapidly expanding Indian economy. They explained that Dr Prasad also aimed for high standards of care and education, meaning that the project had exceptional goals.”

Last September ACS’s London staff took part in the Great River race which, thanks to ACS matching the monies raised, brought in over £6,000. Glorying in the name of ‘No Plane No Gain!’, the crew of 17 braved dreadful weather as they paddled a dragon boat 21 miles from Grenwich to Ham on the River Thames.

Not content with that, ACS’s European offices Christmas party, ‘The Aviator Ball’, raised an amazing £14,000.

“We decided, for the first time, to ask a few of our suppliers (airline operators) to sponsor a raffle prize at our staff Christmas party when we planned to hold a raffle for our three chosen charities,” said Tina.

“We did not expect very much, but they seemed to be so interested in Heal particularly and their support was very generous, enabling us to provide some magnificent prizes.”

But, inspired by what they saw in India, ACS, who employ more than 250 staff worldwide, have no intention of forgetting about the children they met in Andhra Pradesh.

“We very much hope that we can meet Dr Prasad one day soon to discuss further plans and will be continuing our support for Heal,” added Tina.

“We also look forward to visiting the site again to see the progress and bring back more photos for our staff to see.”