Make a Donation
By making one-off donations, you are able to assist in the education of a child without the commitment that long-term sponsorship entails.
What the money will be used for
One-off donations will be used to make essential purchases in support of both students and schools.
For instance, should a sponsor have to terminate their regular payment, the donations pool will be drawn upon to continue financing the student's school or college fees until a new sponsor can be found.
Again, a student may not be able to afford to clothe him or herself to an adequate standard, or to buy the necessary books, or a satchel to carry them in. The donations pool will be used to purchase such one-off items.
Schools will also benefit from your donations, which will be used not only to buy teaching materials and aids, but also essential improvements to the school's premises, such as a monsoon-proof roof, or a new classroom. Please see below to find out which projects HELP is currently running.
HELP's administration expenses are not met from donated funds, so you can rest assured that all your donation will go towards the children and schools of the eastern Himalayas. And as a donor, you will receive an annual newsletter listing the ways that your money has been used.
Current projects
Our target was to raise £22,000 [currency converter] to enable St Paul's School in Sikkim, to construct a school building.
| Financial target reached in April 2008! |
|---|
New land for the school building
In 2003, when HELP began its association with St. Paul's, the school was situated in an old, dilapidated village house, with no security of tenure.
Four years on, the building work is progressing well. The ground floor, housing most of the classrooms, is complete, and the school has just moved in. The second stage of the project, the second floor, will provide a dormitory for the orphans and children from distant villages. We have just sent (on 10 April 2008) £1,300 so that this final stage can be completed.
Thank you to everyone for helping us to raise the money needed to complete this major project. Between us we raised £19,000. It is good to know that the project is being completed for less than the original £22,000 estimate, in spite of landslide damage!
Click on the pictures below to see work progressing on the new building:
Some other projects being supported by HELP:
JNM schoolkids with donated books
- The JN Memorial school building project: This little school is housed in a flimsy wooden structure, which is slowly sliding down the mountain. The target for a new concrete school building is £7,000. So far £3000 has been raised by friends of the school, and I shall also be digging into HELP funds to help things along.
- The Social Public School, Pokhara, Nepal: HELP has provided grants over the past two years in response to requests submitted by volunteers. In 2006 we contributed £500 towards the building of a Science Lab. In 2007, we contributed £150 towards the costs of setting up a library.
- SASA Academy, Uttarkhand, India: This school has requested £4,250 to build two new classrooms. We have made an initial contribution of £500.
- Computers for Indian Schools: This is a project established and run by our very first volunteer. In 2007, he imported from Australia,and set up, 20 decommissioned computers for 9 schools in Sikkim and West Bengal. We have given Simon a grant of £500 as a small contribution towards his costs.
- Teacher Training: A free-lance teacher trainer who taught as a HELP volunteer at St. Paul primary school in 2006, is running two concurrent seminars in Kalimpong and Gangtok in February 2008, just before the new school year. The aim is to improve standards of English teaching by introducing local English teachers to new methodologies.This project is being funded out of the HELP donation fund.
- In addition to these projects, our volunteers and their families make direct donations to their schools. For example, the mother of one of our volunteers, has raised £251 for the Gyan Jyoti school in Kalimpong, which wants to build two more classrooms. She has also set up a pen pal link between the Gyan Jyoti school and the school she teaches at.
To make a donation, simply click on this button and complete the online form:
If you feel you would prefer to focus on and assist in the development of a single student in the longer term, there is the option of sponsorship.
