VOICE OF HOPE

December, 2012

Voice of Hope
(Newsletter of the Hope House)
GREETINGS OF SEASON OF GRACE, TRUST & SACRIFICE IN THIS ISSUE

Wish you a Merry Christmas

Like many, this time of the year always brings lot of cheer and joy to all of us children, management and the staff, at the Hope House. We celebrated our Christmas program th on November 30 and as always girls prepared for this program for few months and we had invited girls families and the local supporters. There are several firsts to report. We tried our best to conduct the entire program in Tamil to enable the families to become part and parcel of the program. Two of our girls shared Thanksgiving Testimony and a mother of one of our girls shared her thoughts at a spontaneous invitation. Mr. Manoah Mohanraj President of Hope House International USA Our international funding partner was present for the first time. Thanks to the generosity of Christian Medical College (CMC) employees who pool in money every year during Christmas season to support several local non-profits and Hope House has been the fortunate beneficiary for the past few years and this year too our girls received gifts worth of Rs. 250/- each. After the Christmas program a symbolic event of Christmas, we always help the girls to understand the true meaning of Christmas being a blessing to someone as someone has been to them. It is our hope and prayer that our girls come up with an idea spontaneously by denying themselves a little of their own to say Ive been blessed to be a blessing. As you continue to support the work of the Hope House, we want to say a big thank you and wish you a very happy Christmas and a blessed New Year.

HH recognized by GiveIndia
Hope House has been listed by GiveIndia a premiere fund raising platform of India that is promoting transparency, accountability and governance among the Indian NGOs as a tier I NGO.

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HH Construction begins
After seven years of waiting, Hope House began constructing a new facility on December 1st, 2012.

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Biggest achievement of the Hope House

It was in May, 2010 Hope House decided to embark on a journey that we thought it would never end. The process was so arduous that we came very close to giving it up many times but we decided to stay the course to remain accountable to our supporters and donors. Its a journey of being listed as a Tier I NGO by GiveIndia Foundation on their web site. In the year 2010, when we were pressed for financial resources, we considered getting listed by GiveIndia but little did we realize what we were in for. GiveIndia (GI) a premiere fundraising platform of India helps credible NGOs to raise funds using their secure web portal. To become an NGO to receive their help, they ask you to prove your credibility which we thought we had. We did in many areas but we lacked in some. They guided and helped us to reach that stage. We had to restructure our board and do things which we never thought were required (like releasing our annual report to the public with all the required information in it). We literally exchanged hundreds of emails and completed the paper work. They inspected us to check our accounts; they visited our beneficiaries to meet them in person,

and required us to sign a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) etc. On the 6 of November we got the confirmation through an email that the Hope House has been selected to be listed as the tier I NGO on their web site. So, what does this mean? This means an instant access to their secure web infrastructure for anyone in the world to donate to the Hope House. Most importantly, GI and the Hope House have meticulously developed Donation Options to which donors can donate specifically. Last but not the least, GI assures the donors an instant tax exempt receipt in an email for their respective country (India, US and UK for now) and a non tax exempt receipt for others apart from a feedback report to help the donors to know how their money is been used in two months of donation.
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To us at the Hope House, it is not just an assurance of financial assistance that we sought but their endorsement of our credibility. If we may put this whole process in perspective, there are more than 2 million NGOs in India and GiveIndia lists only less than 250 of them and the Hope House is one among them today. For our donors faithfulness to support us through the years this is the least we could do stay accountable and transparent to become a credible organization.

DONATING ON GIVEINDIA SITE

Link to donation options of the Hope House

http://www.giveindia.org/m-1247-TheHope-House.aspx

DIRECT DEPOSIT TO THE HOPE HOUSE

Direct Deposit to the Hope House

Ministry of finance of India has issued directives to all the public sector banks to switch over to electronic mode of transactions instead of cheques beginning st July 1 , 2012. If you live in India and would like to give direct deposit standing orders to your bank, we have a form that you can use. Your standing orders would help the Hope House with on-time availability of resources.

CLICK HERE to download the HH form to submit to the bank. If you have any questions, please do write to us at info@hopehouse.in

VOICE OF HOPE | December, 2012

HOPE HOUSE (GREEN) BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

Foundation markings of the new hope house building Children are expected to move in st by June 1 , 2013.

Earth work begins

From the get go, we have been insisting with our architect that our facility ought to be green and cost effective. Our architect being an expert in the cost effective construction took up the challenge to come with the features that we are delighted to describe below:

Our architect simply fills up such space with used tiles that are available for as little as two rupees a piece (about 4 cents) Breathing bricks: When the bricks in the wall are plastered with cement on both sides, according to our architect, shuts

Foundation Pillars are erected.

Rat Trap Bond Walls: Compared to the conventional laying of bricks for the wall building, they lay them in a particular position where it creates an empty space between the bricks that acts as an insulation for the temperatures (Our town temperatures fluctuates between 15 and 40 degrees of Celsius) Filler Slab: According to our architect, entire roof doesn't have to be concretized like in the conventional roof because there are spots in the roof that have no value of any kind. That means that part of the roof can be filled with anything that one likes.
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the porous properties of the bricks that allows them to breath. So our architect leaves the walls without plastering them so they breath and in turn they keep the facility temperature inside higher or lower depending on the season. High Courtyard: Building designers (EMI2 architects) gave a high and open courtyard (in the middle of the building) that enables the hot air inside the facility to escape to keep the building cool in the summers. Apart from these features in the construction (considered as active features), we would like to harness solar and wind energy (considered as passive features) to make this facility even more environmentally friendly.

Tree plantation
We all went to the construction site on December 9th and planted tree saplings. We plan to visit the site every second Saturday of the month. Kindly keep us in your prayers that no major interruptions come our way before girls move in by June, 2013.

NEEDS OF THE BUILDING

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Two tier bunk beds that cost Rs. 6500/- ($ 130/-) each.

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Number of people dining hall to be equipped for .

TO VIEW MORE PHOTOS, VISIT HOPE HOUSES FACEBOOK PAGE

VOICE OF HOPE | December, 2012

If youre touched by our message and would like to support us, consider supporting this activity.

Each one of the Hope House girls has two bank accounts (Savings and Fixed). We help the girls to operate their own savings account (under supervision) for their individual expenses. You could make one investment of 50 rupees (one dollar) in a childs savings account. It is our hope that through this activity, they learn banking skills that empowers them with needed financial literacy. You can send the money (see the details below) in the multiples of 50 with a note instructing us to invest the money in the girls savings accounts.

How do I send my contribution?

If youre living in India, kindly address your payment to The Hope House and mail it to the following address: The Hope House 16/28, 25th East Cross Road Gandhinagar Vellore 632006 Contributions to the Hope House (in India) are exempted from income-tax under section 80/G of Indian tax code. If youre living in the US, kindly address your payment to Hope House International and mail it to the following address: Hope House International PO Box 7438 Chico, CA 95927-7438 Hope House International is a fiscal intermediary of the hope house in India and contributions to Hope House International (In the US) are exempted from income-tax under 501c3 IRS tax code. If youre living in any other country, please address your payment to The Hope House and mail it to the following address: The Hope House 16/28, 25th East Cross Road Gandhinagar Vellore 632006 Hope House is authorized by the ministry of home affairs of India under Foreign Contribution and Regulation Act (FCRA) to receive funds from abroad.