There are hundreds of good causes that you could support. Why then should you support the work of Bethesda?
Well, if you already support another cause we wouldn’t want you to switch to us. That is not what we are about. But if you don’t support a charity or have room for another, here are six reasons you might want to consider us.
We're small, so your gift is bigger
We are a small charity. Really small. Sure the school we support has grown to over six hundred students who travel from miles around because we provide the best education available. But we don’t support schools spread across India. We aren’t an international concern. We achieve so much on very little money. This means if you support us your money changes everything. It is not a drop in the ocean at some big charity. For us one persons giving can make all the difference.
Your giving goes a long way in a community where the average person lives on less than £1 per day.
Because we are a small charity your gift is spent on the education of children, not on fundraising teams and advertising campaigns.
Your money goes to the children, not overheads
Because we are a small charity we don’t have corporate headquarters or fundraising teams. We don’t have a CEO who gets paid a big salary and have never advertised. We are totally and utterly reliant on volunteers. Even this website hasn’t cost us a penny and to be honest is our first step in promoting our work. Up until now we have survived on word of mouth. That means whatever you give goes straight to the education of children.
Education is incredibly powerful
Seriously, nothing beats a good education especially with children in our area. It is the one thing our community needs more than anything else. Over the years people have taken advantage of our community because they weren’t educated. They also haven’t had the opportunities that come with a good education. But with your help we are changing that. Read more on the importance of education.
Education empowers children and communities in a way nothing else can.
It is not just about education, its about family
There are also those children from further afield that stay with us in term time. For many of them this is their only opportunity to have what you and I would call a ‘normal’ childhood.
For many of our children we don’t just offer an education, we provide a home. Those without parents live all year around with us and we become their family. We have even had to help some of our graduates find husbands and wives!
We are not a charity which has parachuted into the community. We support people who grew up there and understand its unique needs.
We are in it for the long haul
The work we support as a charity is a family concern. It was founded by Roy and Catherine Devaraj in the late 1980's with just 12 children. Today it is run by their children Simon and Steve with the support of their wives Sarah and Beth.
They grew up in the Kalryan Hills. They haven’t come here to ‘help the locals’. They are the locals! They aren’t just swooping in and then moving on to the next project. They have children who have graduated and now their own children attend the school. They aren’t going anywhere while people like you enable them to do their work.
There are so many more children we would love to help with your support.
We can’t do it without you
The truth is we cannot continue to help these children without your support. There are more and more demands on us. Demands that cost money. There are more children we desperately want to help. We also need to improve the facilities and teaching the school provides. To do this we are utterly reliant on people like you. We don’t get government support. We have no trust fund or major donors. We live month to month, day to day thanks to the support of individuals.