
September 2004
Introduction
Well things have started happening for the newly started charity 'Children Walking Tall', it was all a bit of a whirlwind during my time in England. We seemed to have meetings after meetings and had lots of work to do setting up the charity and filling out the endless forms that the British Charity Commission require. But all that is now behind us, so that really leaves all the Indian equivalent forms from the Indian Charity Board, I have a feeling we'll struggle with Indian system, but i could be wrong. I myself have moved back to India to start the ground work on finding a suitable venue for our first day care center, I managed to visit Mumbai where they have a severe problem with the homeless and poor, once we have a center here in Goa i would like to set up other centers across the country, unfortunately Mumbai is a very expensive city to buy or rent property, so we will have to wait until we have a good income unless there is a charitable company out there that wishes to donate funds towards one. I've realised how much I have missed India during my 4 months in England, the people the sounds and the smells are amazing, Mumbai is a great place to shop, but like Goa has hundreds of beggars on the street, I hope we'll be able to help some of these people through our centers in the not too distant future.
Website
We have managed to get our new website up and running, for the ones who have not visited it yet it's www.ChildrenWalkingTall.Com I only managed to get a simple working version up and running to start with but I am currently working on a slightly sexier version which should be up by the end of September (fingers crossed).
Leaflets
Thanks to everyone who helped us bring our leaflets together, I won't name names, you know who you are. they've been a great success, hopefully we'll be able to produce a slightly larger order next time, if a few people decide to use the donation form found in the leaflet. If you would like a leaflet or would like to distribute leaflets to friends/family then please get in contact with the UK office although to keep the costs down we're trying to send a minimal amount of colour versions out, and make up the numbers with B/W photocopies so that more money can go to 'the cause'.
Fundraising
A Special thanks needs to go out to Jimmy who managed to raise over £400 by doing a sponsored walk starting in Mansfield. Joan his wife has also helped us all so much during the last month. If you would like to do something similar then please contact us at for a information and sponsor sheet. We would also like to thank Co-op for their generous donations that will be raffled later this year and Retford Art Society who have also helped us in the early stages. We've done so much better than I had anticipated, especially due to the support of all our friends and family across the country who have helped us in various ways, giving time money and greatly needed help. John requires a special mention as he has helped us from before the start and gave us the kick that we needed to start the whole project off - Thanks John! - I'll remember to return the favor one day. If I have missed anyone out of this list I do apologise, but I'm guessing you don't do it for the praise, it's the children you do it for, who needs praise when you have a tear change to a smile. There is just one more person that I would like to thank for ALL of her hard work during the past few months, my co-founder Shermina, she has a hard time the last few months working with me sorting out the forms for the Charity Commission, Bank and everything else, as well as this she's currently stuck in England wishing she was back in India hands on, but unfortunately she is working as a Teacher until Christmas raising some spending money. Shermina has and is continuing to be a great provider for the charity with all the hard work she is doing with writing to companies and helping with the fundraising. If you get chance to see her, just remind her she's doing a great job and tell her it's less than four months until she can be out here helping 'hands on'.
What's to come
Hopefully these newsletters will be posted monthly as long as I have enough to post. If you would like to receive them by mail then please contact us at with the Subject Join Newsletter so that we can add you to the mail list (please send from the email address you want to receive the newsletter. If you have received this by mistake please send and an email to with the subject Cancel Newsletter and I appologise for any inconvenience. |