Education & hope for 165 needy children in India

Here’s to 2014!

It’s been a fabulous start to the year at Reaching Hand. During the Christmas holidays, our children enjoyed lots of special treats! Some performed a nativity play and sketches, and lots of games, gifts, carols, and food were enjoyed!

Feeling Proud

Soon it was back to school for all the children, and their achievements this term have already started to roll in - a thrilled Chandana came Home all smiling from School as she had won a prize in the Drawing Competition.

The 7^th of February was a particularly proud moment for us all at Reaching Hand. Chuimayo, one of our first boys to join us over 9 years ago graduated from 10^th Standard as Football Captain and Head Boy of St. Michaels School. He led the students into the hall, and our New Home staff watched as he passed on the flame to next year’s students… an emotional moment for many! Chuimayo has proved that regardless of your background, past and hardship, you can succeed in life… as we are sure he will as he continues to carry the fire inside him! All the best to Chuimayo, who is now looking forward to college!

Republic Day Celebrations!

On the 26^th January, India celebrated Republic Day! This day commemorates the date and moment when the Constitution of India came into effect in 1950. We at Reaching Hand joined the nation celebrating this important event in colourful and exciting ways! Early on the Sunday morning our schools were enjoying the celebrations, with the children dancing and performing, singing the National Anthem, and speeches being made, finished off with the hoisting of the flag, a great time that exhibits our National pride, rich history and vibrant culture!

Welcoming many Special Guests!

This quarter, the New Home has had many special visitors, from Father Christmas to volunteers from all over the world! Between January and February Pallavi, Payal (Management & Engineering Student of XIME-Cochi), and Beth (UK) came to intern for 3 -4 weeks at Reaching Hand. They spent time volunteering for all our projects at Reaching Hand, but time with the New Home children was what they enjoyed the most! We also had a huge group of volunteers from all over the world visit the New Home in January! Many fun activities were had, organised by the group, and the children blew them away with beat boxing and football! Over the last three months, we have engaged 5 different corporates with over 200 of their employees in our regular programs!

A New member of the Reaching Hand family

On 11th Feb, the New Home welcomed into its arms Thanu who is six years old, after spending the last two years in Wenlock`s Hospital in Mangalore. Thanu suffered a great tragedy two years ago, when his mother was electrocuted with Thanu in her arms. She died on the spot, whilst Thanu suffered 40% burns and lost his left leg. His right leg is also affected by the burns and he has an artificial left leg, however they are not strong enough to take his body weight. He is unable to walk more than 10 to 15 feet. He can drag himself in a seated position on the ground.

Thanu is a bright and brilliant boy, and is always smiling, regardless. All that Thanu wants is to go to School, and is eager for the new term to start in June! He loves technology, mobile games and watching cartoons.

Thanu will be reunited with his older brother, Shashi in April once Shashi has finished his year end exams in 4^th Standard at his current school. Shashi currently visits every weekend, and is very much looking forward to being back with his beloved brother.

Come June Thanu will be off to School to start his future. Of course his disability hinders his movement, and he will have to be carried everywhere, however we know how much he  has fought his way this far and we are sure with his grit and determination he will make it through School in flying colours.

Looking Ahead…

So the end of another school year will come for our children, and they are working hard towards their end of year exams! However they are very much looking forward to a well – deserved long Summer Holiday, where they will be free to enjoy summer camps, sports, and special days out.

The next big date in Reaching Hand’s diary is 18^th May. The time has come around to our biggest fundraising event of the year, the TCS World 10K Marathon, Bangalore! You can encourage us by donating towards the event… but why not go a step further and join with your friends, family, colleagues and organise a mini marathon in aid of Reaching Hand! Be a part of the action! You can create a fundraiser on Global Giving and share away to get your sponsorship!

Another great incentive run by Global Giving is YouthSpark, a reoccurring donation campaign where Microsoft will match any donations made! Your Funds will be matched on April 16^th by 50% for donations up to $500.

For donors in the UK, Global Giving, for one week only will be giving away a bonus of one pound for every two pounds you raise - up to a maximum of £600 per donation! This is taking place from 3^rd March until the 9^th! This makes a huge difference to any contribution made, so please do consider making a donation this week!

Thank you once again for your continued support, and watch out for more of our projects that will be uploaded onto Global Giving soon! We are diversifying our projects this year to reach out to more of the needy, through the following new programs - 

1. Steer to Change - An all-woman taxi service, run by women, for women.

2. Future Connect Technology Training Center (FCTTC) - A hub for youths in slum communities, based near each of our Government schools that offers a safe space to learn and enjoy new activities and skills, as well as discover career opportunities.

3. Girl’s Glory – (a sanitary hygiene project for girls) - Working with all our girls in our Government schools who are going through puberty to provide them with hygiene advice and sanitary wear in order for them to live healthily and maintain high attendance at school.

Don’t forget, you can like us on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ReachingHand for all the regular updates and activities! Please share with your friends!

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Dear Friends,

Thank you for standing with us throughout last year. Your continuous support to our cause is encouraging us in creating a safe and vibrant environment for our children. As we continue our journey on creating a vibrant, positive, and healthy future for our children at New Home, we thank you from the bottom of our heart for choosing to make a difference to their lives. We are grateful for your generous support and glad to share how your donation is been put to work!

It’s been a sporting season at Reaching Hand this quarter!

The medals keep coming!

The last three months have been very active at the New Home! Some of our boys participated in the State Level Olympics; Chiumayo ran the 300m Medley Relay where he and his team won the Bronze Medal. Charan and Bharat`s Team won the 1st prize in the 4x100m relay!

Meanwhile, Leshini and Monisha won Gold and Bronze medals in the Karnataka Inter-Schools Meet! The Reaching Hand team were stunned however when our children of St. Michaels came home from the Athletics meet at the beginning of November with an impressive 55 medals: 26 Gold, 21 silver and 8 Bronze! The meet was extra special as Chuimayo the Head Boy led the School in the March, followed by Monisha leading the School Band as the Assistant Band Captain. Our top athletes included Leshini, winning 4 Gold medals in the relay x2, 50m race, and Kho-Kho with a Silver medal in long jump; Umesh with 100m race Gold medal, and 3 Silvers in cricket, football and long jump; and Bharat winning 2 gold medals in cricket and football and, silver in the relay race, and bronze in the long jump. Siblings, Monisha and Surya came out on top, with both winning the Individual Championships! Monisha attained an impressive 3 Gold medals in the 100m race, throwball and basketball; 3 Silver medals in the 400m race, long jump, and shotput, with a Bronze medal in 100m relay. Surya managed a remarkable 5 Gold medals in football, volleyball, basketball, 200m and 100m races!

Many felt the Joy of Giving with Reaching Hand!

The Joy of Giving Week is a National ‘Giving’ initiative held every year across India between 2^nd – 8th October.  This encourages people to give their time, money, resources or skills back to society and the needy.

Sleeping Under the Stars

This was a unique event, and the first of its kind in India! To kick start the huge philanthropic event of the Joy of Giving Week on the 1^st October, the Reaching Hand team, along with supporters spent a night in the city sleeping rough and without shelter. This was in recognition of the everyday challenges and extreme hardships faced by those living without shelter in just one night, raising awareness for the estimated 80 million homeless people in India, of which approximately 11 million are children.  The event was a great success with thanks to everyone who contributed. In total about 400 people came to the event and 150 people stayed and slept until 4am!

This year, as part of the Joy of Giving Initiative we also took part in GeneroCity – a NGO Mela on the 5^th October, followed by Food for Change, where we shared a giant ‘Thank You’ with our supporters and donors, and enjoyed culinary delights from the city’s top Hotels, along with grand entertainment and live music. 

Diwali – the Children Celebrate the Festival of Lights!

Our children joined in the fun of Diwali by celebrating with lanterns and fireworks! Diwali means ‘row of lights’, and is celebrated by many looking forward to a prosperous year ahead!

Goals to Goodness, Round II!

Reaching Hand held its 2^nd Goals to Goodness event on the 9^th and 10^th November 2013 at HAL Grounds, Old Airport Road, Bangalore. This was an event encouraging corporate teams to ‘Kick for a Cause’ supporting Reaching Hands work with underprivileged children. Reaching Hand would like to convey a huge THANK YOU to all those who were a part of Goals to Goodness II, the support from all the sponsors, partners, volunteers, participants as well as many individuals made the event the success it was! This time around, 21 teams participated from 17 different companies!  The six teams that made it through to the finals were Mu Sigma, Mindtree, Target, Cisco, TCS and ANZ, with TCS winning GOLD! We are hugely grateful to both ANZ and TCS for generously donating their prize money, of 20,000 and 15,000 INR to our cause.

The highlight of the weekend was certainly the children’s match against the Team Captains! With a little advantage, and strong support the kids won 5 – 2. Thrilled with their win, the kids spent the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening playing football with one another. At Reaching Hand we value sports development for our children, as it is proven to encourage, and enhance their natural abilities. Sport also reaches out to our children regardless of their backgrounds, and with our guidance can build on their self-respect, self-esteem and empowerment.

Looking Forward to Christmas and the Start of a New Year

Now we are looking forward to the Christmas Season! We have lots of treats lined up for the children of the New Home during their school holidays! We are looking forward to another successful year, where our children will continue to thrive in their studies, talents and more memorable moments will be made! We thank all of you for supporting our children, please don’t forget us this Christmas, ‘tis the season to be jolly, so make a difference to their lives, and donate towards their growth and happiness!

Please consider telling your friends and family about our project - share the link on your blogs or social networks, use the tell-a-friend feature on the project page to email your network, or just bring us up in conversation. We want reach out to many as there are more children who need our services. You can also follow us on Facebook to see our regular updates and activities here -  https://www.facebook.com/ReachingHand

Many thanks again for your support! We will continue to keep you updated about our work and events of the following months.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

With love from the Reaching Hand Team 

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