Without Them......

Without the angels mentioned here below, Whispering Hope would have stumbled through its Festive Plans. Our heartfelt thanks go out to Juan and Ana Fradera from Thailand, Gerard Smith from France, Kiran Krishnan from Singapore, our own angels from Mumbai - Balu and Eswar, Alun Long, Bernard Paul, and Little Trishna Mathew from the Uk, Tripta & Manoj Barai, V. Kumar, Fenella Dias and Bridgette White from Bangalore, Gladys Fernandes, Pat & Lochlan Fernandes and their friends (Monty and Pam), Gerty Cobb, Helen Bakes, David and Marcus Bakes - all from Australia, Jenny White and her friends (Julia, Yoly, Avril, Telles and Kutty), Sangeeta, Monica, Chitra, Ruby, and Hermie Vanspall from Chennai, Cuneyt Meran from Turkey, Sandra & Noreen Joseph, and Margaret Lobo from Vizag. Lets give them a big hand! Clap clap Clap!

We are extremely grateful to Mr. Rajan Sekri for rustling up loads of stuff from his friend circle among whom, some of the ladies repesented the Madras Inner Circle 2 Club. These ladies brought in lovely goody bags, and Santa caps for the kids at the hospital. One of the ladies volunteered to be Santa and wow what a Santa she was! The charming little elf, Keirav, proved to be the best little guy in town helping Santa distribute the gifts. Thanks Rajan, for the hand towels and the plum cake.

And what would we have done, if it wasnt for Mr. NC Williams, President, YMCA? thanks to him we had a lovely open space to conduct our Christmas party. He also provided the yummy icecream and extra cake. A lot of appreciation goes out to Jude Jayasingh and his lovely wife for the sumptious cake supplied for the children. Last but not least, a mighty big THANK YOU to Thomas and Sankar who helped rock this party.

We are also grateful to Anita Mawdsley and Prakash Das from Chennai, Sitara Mathew from the UK, our angel from Mumbai for the contributions made towards school fees during the past year. We also take this opportunity to thank Mr. Krishnan of Chennai for the loads of stationery which was distributed to poor students during the Christmas holidays. We also thank Yvonne Ryan and her friend Barbara from the UK for all the children's clothes and stuff that they keep contributing from time to time.

We take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for the generous assistance that you gave us from time to time. It feels real good that we were able to spread Miles & Miles of Smiles around which was what our aim was. Thanks guys!

And a Lil' something for the Oldies!

It is the Festive Season and after all that we did for the children, how could Whispering Hope not do something for the golden oldies?!! Gifts (basic toiletries and a hand towel) were packed, mint fresh 10 Rupee notes were ready with a 2 Rupee coin for that extra luck and distributed to about a 100 people. Pushed aside by their own families, they were really touched that someone somewhere remembered them at Christmas. A hearty breakfast was also given to the poor folks of the Vincent de Paul Society of St. Joseph's church, Vepery, Chennai.

Pensions were given to the ladies on our list, a ceiling fan was provided to a poor family, and food rations given to a few selected families.

This completes our program for the year 2010 and we look forward to doing much more in 2011 with your support. God bless all of you and your families!

Festive Celebrations - December 2010

1. Something Special for those with Special Needs - this event was celebrated with much gusto at the Day Care Centre run by the Guanellian priests at Sivagangai District, Madurai, on 19th December 2010. Rev Fr. Francis sent in a beautiful thank you note. Whispering Hope had sent in a contribution towards the day's festivities and a sumptious meal was enjoyed by all. A couple of photos taken on that day is displayed alongside.
Rev. Fr. Francis can be contacted on +91 98 841 71398.

2.Time Out for the little patients at the Old Cancer Institute, Adyar - 22 December 2010. What can one say about this? Our hearts go out to these little mites in various stages of this dreaded disease. Armed with loads of presents, Whispering Hope put up a little show for these young ones; a Charlie Chaplin look alike put up a little magic show which enthralled our young audience; the students of St. Mark's Matriculation School performed a couple of dances to entertain them; and then it was time for Santa Claus and ofcourse PRESENTS!! It was amazing to see the happiness and joy that we could give these kids and the gratitude received from the parents and care givers was overwhelming. Take a look at our photos which speak volumes.
Cancer Institute, Adyar - Tel. No. +9144 22350131
Mrs. Jean Marcus, Headmistress, St. Marks Matriculation School - Tel. No. +91 98 847 37597

3. A Christmas Party was held on the 23rd December for the children we meet from time to time. Fun, games, presents, cake - thanks to Jude Jayasingh, ice cream and more cake generously supplied by Mr. NC Williams, President of YMCA - were the basic highlights. Mr. Williams also gave us the YMCA premises to conduct this show which brightened the lives of the 180 children who popped up for it. Our photographs speak volumes about the good time had by all.
YMCA contact No. =+91 44 26400147
Mrs. Jebamani - Tuition Care Taker - Tel. No. +91 98 402 58338
Mr. Gunaseelan - Annamal Childrens Home - Tel.No. +91 98 845 86992

4. The Pilgrims' Progress : One fine day in early January, Rev. Fr. Gerry took a little band of elderly women for an outing. Casting aside their burdens, trials and tribulations, the 22 ladies enjoyed the time out when they visited a lot of churches in and around Chennai, and had a sumptious lunch provided by a friend. So sorry that we have no photos of this event on hand.
Rev. Fr. Gerry can be contacted on +91 94 441 42644.

A Promise Kept

A promise made earlier this year to the little fellas at the SALT home in Pondicherry was kept in the month of November. On Diwali Day, accompanied by the charming Fenella from Bangalore, her sweet old Aunt 'Dede', I went across to Pondicherry and delivered the promised goods! Badminton racquets, the net, shuttle corks, footballs, indoor games, etc; the children were absolutely thrilled and more so when they received some impromptu little gifts - caps, whistles, balloons, smiley balls and the like.
To add to the excitement, a little chap turned up to share his birthday cake with these orphans. Our pictures tell the story.
Bro. Melquie, Salt Children's Home, Tel.No. +91 94 868 52374