Education & hope for 165 needy children in India

Monisha Reaches Nationals!

We are so very proud of Monisha, who participated in the ICSE National Athletics Meet on 6th and 7th November. Monisha ran the 200m and came 4^th in the heats. Back in September Monisha went straight through to competing at National level after taking 1st place against 47 other schools in Karnataka. Narrowly missing out on the finals, Monisha is continuing her training at Kanteerava Stadium three times a week under the guidance of a Personal Coach (an Asian Gold Medallist) and is working hard towards the next competitions!

The Stars at St. Michaels!

23 of our children study at St. Michaels English medium School. On the 15^th and 17^th November, our children took part in the Annual Sports Day, and once again stunned the Reaching Hand family by bringing home 55 medals! Together, all 23 children won 28 Gold, 12 Silver and 15 Bronze. Also a huge congratulations to Sneha, Leshini and Sigesh who are the new Individual Champions, bringing home 3 Championship Trophies!

Leshini and Sneha also took part in an Inter School Relay Competition at St. Charles’ School and came third place, winning the Bronze medal!

Settling in to their new Schools

The children have settled in well at their new schools, Capstone and Brighton Community Schools, both of which are English Medium Schools.

We have 7 children studying at Brighton School, and are delighted that our boy Prem Kumar (7^th Standard) has been selected as Head Boy! We are happy to report a very positive response from the teachers, who were very impressed by the children in the first parent and teachers meetings. All the children are doing a fantastic job in their academics and sports, as well as enjoying the extra-curricular activities on offer there, such as Karate. Another 12 students are studying in Capstone Community School, a new school that only recently opened, Capstone offers more individual attention to our children who need it. They offer a host of activities in their lovely campus, such as home sciences, gardening, and music. In November, the Capstone children celebrated Children’s Day by visiting to a local old age home, where they brought small gifts to give the elderly. Esther has especially shone in school, and has been selected as class monitor, as well as extra responsibilities such as organising the Teacher’s Day event!

 As Long As You Love Me

Our volunteers have been working hard on creating a special video of some of our children covering their favourite song ‘As Long As You Love Me’ by Justin Bieber. All thanks to the tremendous efforts of Davin Lama (Beatboxer), Shaktiraj Singh Jadeja (Film maker), Smita (Arts and crafts), Low Rhyderz (Hip hop group) and Jacob Cherian (volunteer) who was the creative force behind the whole project. The children clearly connect to the words in the song and made their own version. They had a fabulous time putting together the performance, as can be seen throughout the video! Please do take a look by following the link below.

We even made it to the social news site BuzzFeed in America! Check out our page by following the BuzzFeed link and be sure to share it amongst your friends!  

All the funds raised from this video are going towards the building of the children’s permanent home. The New Home will be expanded to house up to 100 children in need and will offer a much bigger living space to our children! The plot of land is slowly being developed and we hope to start constructing soon! Please consider donating on Bonus Day to raise funds for this huge project.

Bonus Day!

On the 2^nd December, we are participating in Microsoft YouthSpark GivingTuesday on GlobalGiving. For 24 hours we will be competing for "most donors" and "most funds raised" bonus prizes. Additionally, all donations made to our project from the U.S or from the U.K will be matched 100% up to $500 (£300) per donor per project while funds remain. Funds will go quickly, so be sure to set your alarm clocks to make your dollar go further to support our cause!

Important information:

• Microsoft YouthSpark will match up to $500 per donor

• Microsoft has $175,000 USD  to give to campaigns at 2 different times of the day.  FUNDS WILL GO FAST (within 15 minutes!) so it is vital to make the donation at the exact time!  
  • United States  - Donate at these times for matching donations. 
    • 6:00am PST / 9:00am EST   December 2^nd
    • 12:00pm PST / 3:00pm EST    December 2^nd
  • UK – Donate at these times for matching donations. 
    • 2:00pm GMT December 2^nd
    • 8:00pm GMT  December 2^nd 
  • India - Donate at these times for matching donations.  
    • 7:30pm IST   December 2^nd
    • 1:30am IST   December 3^rd  

Please do consider making a Christmas donation to our children, while the funds have the potential to be doubled!

Looking Ahead….

We are fast approaching the Festive Season, and can’t believe how quickly 2014 has passed! To celebrate Christmas this year we are planning a fun day for the children and they are very much looking forward to their holidays and are working hard on a Christmas performance with a special ‘Jingle hip-hop’ dance! To keep up to date with the children’s activities, please do follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Wishing you happy holidays during the Christmas Season, and again a huge Thank You from all at Reaching Hand! Please do continue to share our cause and contribute to the lives of our children, YOU and your collective efforts make it all a possibility!

 With Warm Regards from the Reaching Hand Team

Links:

• We are on BuzzFeed!
• Follow us on Facebook
• Donation Link

Dear Friends,

This quarter we at Reaching Hand have focused on the futures of our children, from ensuring quality education that is built around each of our children's needs, to raising funds and awareness to build them a permanent home. Please read on!

Thank you!

A Shining Start at School

For Tanu, Indra and Shree who recently joined the New Home family, it was School for the first time in June. They are all attending the local Capstone Community School, where they receive the best individual support and attention so they may learn important basics such as English and Maths at their own pace.  They are responding in a great way, and have already picked up a great deal of English! It has been a pleasure for all the staff and minders to see how easily they have adapted to their new surroundings, friends and teachers. They simply love school! They have found the teachers are very kind, with few in a class they get undivided attention and even learning is taught in a fun way!

For Shashi and Bhavana (also studying in Capstone Community College) it was a significant shift from a Kannada and Telugu Government school to an English Medium School. In their words - "Now we wait for each day to go to School!" Every morning is met with a brilliant smile.

All five of the children acted in an English skit (short play) on Independence Day.

Sneha won the first prize and Praveena won the second prize in Solo singing in a Competition at St. Michaels School. Jyothi also sang during the Independence Day celebrations at Brighton School.

Taking on the World with His Next Steps... 

Our first boy in college, Chuimayo is thoroughly enjoying his time at CMR College, Bangalore. Chuimayo is fascinated by Science, and is currently studying Physics, Chemistry, Electronics, Maths and French. He has recently been selected to be a part of his School`s football team, and has already participated in matches against other local colleges!  

Toccata – A Musical Extravaganza for Reaching Hand!

Over the last 3 months, the Reaching Hand Team focused on our event ‘NOSTALGIA’, presented by the Toccata Musical Foundation based in Ireland.  “Toccata”, a group of professional and semi-professional UK based musicians, features Top West-End soloists and a UN recognised orchestra. United in the mission to use their collective talents to help support charities such as Reaching Hand, Toccata performed for our cause on the 2^nd and 3^rd August in Chowdiah Memorial Hall.

A huge team of over 70 musicians, singers and dancers came to Bangalore to perform some classic songs from ABBA and Elton John to a traditional Kenyan song – Malika!

The event raised money for the construction of a permanent home for our children at New Home. At present the New Home is situated in rented buildings. It will also allow expansion so that we can care for 50 more children in need.  

In their performances, Toccata worked with our children, incorporating them into their performances with the opening and closing acts! A small team of three Toccata performers spent a week working with our children, practising songs and dance and working on their performance. The children were thrilled to be a part of it, as well as watching a brilliant show!

If you would like to help build a permanent place for our children, please donate today!

Coming Up….

We are fast approaching Daan Utsav (formerly known as the Joy of Giving Week) which takes place every year in the first week of October. Daan Utsav is India's "festival of giving"! Launched in 2009, the festival is celebrated every year, in the week including Gandhi Jayanti, (October 2-8), and brings together Indians from all walks of life, to celebrate "giving". It is a celebration of people giving their time, money, resources and skills back to society through volunteering, donating and fundraising.

Reaching Hand is taking part in several events and activities during Daan Utsav, including ‘Under the Stars’ on Wednesday the 1^st October bring in the festivities! Under the Stars is happening for the second time in India and is an event that invites people to take up the challenge of sleeping rough for a night without shelter in the city. This is in support of, and to raise awareness for those who face homelessness across India.

We are also looking forward to holding our first ever Reach Inter-Corporate Charity Olympics on Saturday the 11^th October. After such a great response to our 2 previous ‘Goals to Goodness’ football events, we are now adding an array of sports for participants to take part in, including, football, basketball, cricket, volleyball and throwball!

To be updated regularly on our events and happenings at Reaching Hand, follow us on Facebook and Twitter!

Once again, a huge thank you to you all for encouraging us and supporting our children at Reaching Hand. We urge you continue carrying that compassion and care for our children in need… together we can make huge changes in their lives and reach out to many more who need it!

Links:

• Our Appearance on TV 9 leading up to the Event!
• Toccata Show featured on TV 9, India
• A Recent feature in the Deccan Herald Newspaper