A Playground for a Village School – 2011

Over the years we have done so many small projects to help children I forget some of them… The only way Angels from Heaven can do this work is with help from people who truly want to help in some way.

What has made it all so special for me is that I have never asked anyone for anything yet my mailbox is full of Angels from Heaven mail each week. Many of the letters touch my heart. People who have lost their job and still give to Angels or companies taking up a fundraiser for Angels. Times are tough here in the USA & Canada yet the love and kindness never stops from all of you. I am truly amazed at all of it. I will forever be grateful.

Helping poor children and being accountable is not easy … Sometimes you have the funding for a project but things just do not work out. Other times everything works out perfect…

In Nov 2009 I was given a donation from The Company of Prince, Lobel, Glousky, and Tye of Boston MA for $791 I wanted to use this money to help a poor street girl who had a crossed eye.. I wanted to try to make her both eyes beautiful with an operation like we did with other children….

This young child would come to the afternoon class at St Teresa’s School every day. I had seen her in 2007 and 2008 but when I went back to India in 2009 the Sisters told me that she stopped going to class.

The reason the Sisters told me, is poor people move a lot. They stay in one area for a short time if things are not good for them and if things are better in another area of the city or state the family will move anywhere to find work.

I told the Sisters what I wanted to do. Sister Teresa, Sister Lucy and Sister Sini did their very best to help me but to this day they never found that little girl again. I kept that little girl in my heart and I also kept the $791 in our bank account just in case the Sisters found that little girl.

In Nov 2010 I was given a special Birthday gift of $171 from 2 children named Punya & Tanmay I also saved that money too for some special project in the future.

As time went on and more projects were completed or needed I re-visited India in Nov 2010. I went to a small village named Ghoghea near Rourkela to visit the village school. It was a nice visit but right from the start I could see that the children were just as happy as the children are in Calcutta but they did not have things like a playground at school to play in with swings, slides, or good balls to play soccer in the open field with, along with good soccer goals …. The goals were made with broken wood sticks….

When I arrived home after that trip I gave much thought to that little village school and remembered how happy all the children were with very little to play with. The school or the children never asked for anything from me … It was just a good down to earth visit that I had a opportunity to learn about a different country and culture …I continued to think to myself just think how happy all those kids would be with some swings and maybe some new good soccer goals..

In April of 2011 I again received an 8th Birthday money gift of $250 from Punya & Tanmay… It sure is special when young children send me their Birthday gift money to spend on other children in need …….. That’s another unbelievable part of this story……………I kept that too for a future special project.

So to make a long story shorter In hand I now had $1,212 in donated money for a special project.

I wrote to The Daughters of the Cross Sisters in Rourkela and told them Children are Angels from Heaven would like to make a small playground with swings for the village school in Ghoghea that I visited earlier. I also asked about making some good strong soccer goals for the bigger children of school. With that said Sister Mary went right to work for us along with the village Sisters gathering ideas and estimates I did not know how much this would cost but it was a project that would make many kids so happy…

It took a lot of time to be built because of heavy monsoon rains but when I arrived to Ghoghea Orissa this past Dec 2011 I saw for myself the new swings and soccer goals. The total cost of everything including sending balls, jump ropes, frisbees , stuffed animals and getting sweets and drinks for all the children was around $2,100 in total.. The Sanghvi Family of New York even sent 3 big boxes of school supplies to the school in honor of the Dad who had passed away at no cost to Angels.

It was a day I will never forget… To be honest I never want to forget it. It was beautiful in so many ways seeing all the kids so happy with their big bright smiles … I don’t think that even they had ever had a day like this before.

The extra money need for this project came from our general fund from all of you.

I want to thank Prince, Lobel, Glousky, and Tye of Boston MA and all of its workers, for their support and understanding also Punya & Tanmay for giving their Birthday money to help the poor children of India each year, along with all of you who help me each year.

This was a well rounded out project with many people helping who donated into the general fund….. and let’s not forget the Daughters of the Cross Sisters who worked with me on a daily basis to keep our cost under control and see to it that everything was looked after in the proper way with no short cuts by the contractor. It all worked out Perfect!

As always if you have any questions please feel free to call me 781-483-1002

Thanks Again & Enjoy the photos