Jun 2005 : Karuna Welfare – Orphanage and school (No FCRA)
Karuna Welfare is registered with the Government of Maharashtra (India) as a recognized charitable trust, Registration Number: AF22569. This project that initially started with just a feeding program is now grown into a full-fledged orphanage and school. At present, we have 91 children and we are building a school to equip these children to be great citizens of India in the future.
What is special about our orphanage is that we have the family concept. Children are not kept in a dormitory style accommodation with a supervisor, but we have dedicated parent couples who look after 15-20 children in a home atmosphere where children of the same sex but of different ages (4 to 15) grow up in a healthy and family environment.
We give below a brief write-up on the activities of the orphanage :
A Little About Karuna Welfare The Karuna Sharan Project (Home)
Destitute, abandoned and underprivileged children have great value because of the gift of life. They are worthy of love, acceptance and the opportunity to grow up in an affirming atmosphere. We, through Karuna Sharan, seek to assure the all round development and well being of children who are bypassed, forgotten and endangered in their present circumstances, regardless of their social and economic status. We seek to offer them a substantial opportunity toward growing up into complete, independent and contributing citizens. The focus of this project is to value each child at any cost.
The idea of starting a home and a school for street children was born more than 4 years ago, when we started teaching and feeding twenty children who were living on the streets. We saw the rapid changes in their lives and their encouraging response to receiving basic security and love.
Currently, we are renting bungalows in Vasai which act as homes for these children. The Boys Home presently houses 38 boys and Girls Home has 53 girls.
Karuna Academy is full fledged school imparting quality education for these children. The students will be able to finish school with the Secondary School Certificate or the National Open School Certificate. The school activities include sports, picnic, and educational trips. We also offer the kids Vocational Training at the Karuna Workshop which trains them to have skills they can fall back on once they leave home. Currently,some of the children are engaged in making greetings cards, which can be used for any occasion.
Our vision is to construct a school in Vasai to give education for 1000 children out of which 350 would be in-house students who are orphans and street children. We not only want to provide a home and education for the children, but would also like to offer an environment where there is an atmosphere of love and security that these children would otherwise never know.
Right now we have a team of people from various professions who have a special burden for these children and enjoy contributing their time and resources to help this project. In essence this means that most of the project work connected to leasing, purchase of property, and running of the school and home will be done through people support.
For this project we need sponsors and supporters who want to take this opportunity and donate generously in cash or kind, to make an impact in these children’s lives. Because of your “Karuna (Mercy)” you can make “Miracles” happen in the lives of “Many”.
If you would like to be a part of the Karuna family and sponsor, co-sponsor, or donate please contact us at the Administrative Office.
The children at Karuna are orphans and street children, who after much investigation, we have undertaken the responsibility to take care of them until they are 18 years of age.
At Karuna Welfare, we undertake the task to provide the children all the benefits of childhood. The love of a father and mother is crucial in the initial years of a child’s life. Thus we have homes for boys and girls [Karuna Sharan] where our children reside with a parent couple for each house. We also have a fully functional school [The Ambassador High School], which takes care of their educational needs. Our goal is to equip them to be responsible future citizens of our country.
As an organization, with children who are orphaned and street children we have many children who suffer from malnutrition and various other medical needs. Thus we make it a point that the children receive a good and nutritious diet. We meet expenses for clothes, uniform, schoolbooks, through donations. But yet we do have a substantial shortfall every month and find it very difficult to make ends meet.
However this task is too big for us and we need help, to make a difference in these precious lives. It is your kind support, which will help make this vision come true. At present we house 91 children. The need to take on more children who are in crisis and would end up as delinquents is so severe that we have about 84 cases duly short-listed. The only impediment to taking them on is shortage of funds. Photos and stories of each of the kids are at www.karunasharan.org/Stories.asp . A must-read.
Companies like Hewlett-Packard have contributed Rs.4.5 lakhs towards our effort, apart from Colgate, Sheetal, New Merchant International and other MNCs who also have contributed generously.
Currently to effectively run this school and orphanage, our Trust for street children is collecting approximately Rs 80,000/- each, which is less than the monthly expense for 91 kids just to be able to meet the basic needs of food, rents, education and other primary expenses.
This is an appeal for funds to support this noble cause. We would appreciate any contribution. We also an extend an invitation to your respected board to visit our orphanage as per your convenience, only do notify us on the number given below so that I could personally show you around. Your contribution will only help us to accelerate this effort.
Thank you,
Yours Sincerely,
Atul Haksar
Head-Corporate Communications.
Karuna Welfare
Bunglow No. 14,
Rashmi Park Complex, Valiv, Vasai (E),
Dist. Thane, Pin 401 208.
Tel: 9323219031 / 95-250-2457971
atulhaksar@karunasharan.org
www.karunasharan.org