Please help!

Its time to help parents pay their children's school fees and we beg you to help us in our endeavour to reach out to the poor and needy.  Its getting tough as the days go by and any help would be appreciated especially by the students whom we sponsor from year to year.  School fees range from Rs. 4000/- to Rs.20,000/- depending on which school the child goes to and anything that you can give will be a great help to us.  Thank you very much.

We still do the 'little' things!

Whispering Hope hasnt scaled 'great heights' but continue to do the 'little' things to spread smiles around.  Since January we have been doing the rounds and distributed bread and cup cakes to the poor.  Staple food was supplied to a few families when their shelves were empty.  A used gas stove was given to a servant enabling her to switch from a kerosene stove thus making her home a healthier environment for her child to grow up in.

Kevin and Anita Mawdsley of Chennai donated 25 kilos of rice to the Parish Priest of a little church in Andhra where many poor people come to pay homage to Mother Mary.  We also gave the Priest celebration robes to celebrate the Easter service in this little village.

Whispering Hope helped 'Jesus Park' in a tiny way by donating a few Horlicks packets.  Jesus Park distributed over 300 Horlicks to the patients at the old Cancer Hospital, Adyar, Chennai.  We thank Mr. Britto (tel.no. 91 94 448 62717) and Mrs Marlene Nicholas for giving us this opportunity to serve; we also thank Mrs. Jennifer White and her sister Sona and friend Yoly for the Horlicks that they gave for this cause.

And its THANKS to....

With the continued support from our sponsors and friends, we managed to do our bit to spread a mile of smiles.  Our heartfelt thanks go out to Yvette & Vicky, Sharon & Troy Gomes, Pam & Ashraf from Melbourne, Helen & Ashley Bakes from Sydney, Juan & Ana Fradera from Brazil, Bernie Vanspall Toomey from Canada,  Kudzai Chinhengo from Zimbabwe, Cuneyt Meran & Devrim Tuncay from Turkey, Biju & Sudha Damodaran from Muscat, Betsy, Mahalakshmi & Lakshminarayan from Mumbai, Bridget White from Bangalore, Jenny White and her friends Avril & Julia from Chennai, Aunty Hermie Vanspall, Anita & Kevin Mawdsley, K. Sathya, also from Chennai, Julie John from Chirala, Pearl & Nagaraj from Muscat.  Very special thanks go out to Ramesh Kavuri, Guntur, for the bonanza of chocolates and biscuits that he supplied to get this show on the road! Ramesh..you've been great!

We pray that the Good Lord will bless and keep them in His care, showering them with blessings all through the year.

St. Mary's English Medium School, Tadepalligudem, AP

Whispering Hope had the pleasure of conducting its first program in the delightful state of Andhra Pradesh.  This was held at St. Marys English Medium School at Tadepalligudem (tade - palli - gudem : not so bad now to pronounce the word, is it?!). 

Our volunteers - Thomas, Vittal, Arul, Edward, Michael and Riyaz came down from Chennai to give a helping hand.  They packed all the gifts for the students, teachers, Priests and servants, decorated the hall where the program was held, taught the kids a few dances.  Arul, who was the Santa Claus, was the Star of the show as the children didnt expect to find Santa in their midst.  They jived, they danced, they sang and we all enjoyed ourselves till the very end. 

The most Rev. Fr. Charles and his team welcomed us whole heartedly and stood us a magnificent lunch.  We in turn, gave them 5 kilos of fruit cake and 100 buns which came in handy at the children's tea time.

Rev. Fr. Arokiaswamy, the Warden, can be contacted on +91 95 539 52320 for details on the school.

Our pictures displayed in the Photo Album speak for themselves.

The little things we do...

During the months of November and December 2011, Whispering Hope set out to do a variety of little things to make the smiles go around.  Staple rations were given out to a couple of families, school fees were paid for a few students, children were sent to the movies with their parents, loads of chocolates were given out to the young and old alike, new clothes - saris, trousers and shirts for the adults, pensions to the ladies on our list were given out. 

A lavish breakfast was given to the poor members of the Vincent de Paul Society of St. Joseph's Church, Vepery.  Each of these also received a little gift bag with biscuits, chocolates and a little money for the way.  Special thanks go out to Joseph Sagayaraj and Deborah Thomson for giving us this opportunity to serve the poor.
We look forward to receiving plenty so that we can give out much much more and make that smile a mile long!!

A wish for a Bible

It was a glorious moment when a maid working at my office asked me for a Bible.  The very thought that someone needed a Bible was exhilirating.  Through a friend, I managed to lay hands on a couple of Telugu bibles and gave her one.  She was so thrilled that she could have her own Bible to read when attending the prayer service on Sundays.  This gave me the momentum to go forward and get some more Bibles, New Testaments and distribute them amidst the needy.

Maybe we could take this one step further and our Hindu and Muslim sponsors could contribute some copies of the Bhagwad Gita and the Holy Koran. 

Everyone needs something to believe in and what better way to start than to possess the Holy Book.  Not only does this enhance our faith and trust in God, but also gives us the graces we need to lead a better life.

Santa's heart is heavy!

Yes, my dears, Santa's heart is very heavy as our call for toys went unheard and unanswered!  Despite mails being sent out, not a soul came forward with used toys.  This was a big disappointment for Whispering Hope.  But then, we still would like to carry on and if anybody, somebody has some toys which are not being used any more, please do let us know and we will make arrangements to collect the same.