Current News
June 2010
Hilda Isaac, our BET manager, finds a new location for Peach Tree Creche which will improve the health standards of the school and provide an outdoor playground. The location is near the old school site so we may continue to serve the same children.
May 2010
Our Sewing Training Center moves to a new location with cheaper rent, located by the women themselves, empowering them to take ownership of this new outreach project, and again reducing costs. Ann Peck hosts an annual art exhibition in her home in Kodaikanal with other local artists to raise funds for our creches.
April 2010
Janet Welling wraps up a 2 month volunteer visit in Kodaikanal working in our sewing training center to train our women how to make creche uniforms for our children, reducing our annual budget and providing jobs for our ladies. She also introduced new items that will be shown in Switzerland for future fair trade marketing opportunities. Now retired from teaching and working independently of the Swiss students, she continues to stick with us!
March 2010
Dear Friends of the Crèches: Finally coming up for air after two very successful student trips and some very cool volunteers who have visited us. Please respond when you have time. It's always great to hear from the other side of the globe! Bruce is now in the US due to the sudden death of his father last week, who spent most of his working life in India, furthering education through a boys home and seminary. We hope Bruce will escape the new Indian government regulations for tourists and be able to return to India.
February 2010
A rope of jasmine flowers is cut in two to open a new health awareness center at Helping Hearts Crèche, Poriyar. Funds were raised by 12 students and 2 staff from St. Johnsbury Academy, St. Johnsbury, Vermont, who traveled to India for the first time to complete the building of the center and initiate educational materials for a great first step in health intervention in this rural coastal community. Daily trips to this hot, dusty village were made in a convoy of 5 auto rickshaws, a common 3 wheeler transport in India, with students racing to get a ride with their favorite driver. Installing the first smokeless stove in this community (see outreach) , painting educational materials in our crèche, interacting with children and teachers for two weeks built a bond that holds  across two cultures. A state of the art water filter, like those designed for our US military troops, now has a new home in India where it pumps clean water daily for the health center and school, donated by Seldon Tech, Inc. of Windsor, Vermont. High school students with heart, drive and packed duffle bags make an impact in this tiny village.
 Hammers fly as tin sheets and skylight sheets are lifted up to complete a new overhang for Little Lilies Creche in Kodaikanal. 30 students and staff from Geneva International School return each year to continue their support of our schools, including two they have started, Little Lilies and Peach Tree Creches. The new overhang was a student idea, and the sheltered but sunny area extends classroom and playground in all kinds of weather. Installing smokeless stoves, painting educational designs in our crèches, attending a shocking Hindu festival and bonding with our children and teachers leaves little "down" time for these students and provides true testimonials to take back home.
January 2010
Treddle sewing machines hum,  knitting needles click away, and lots of laughter ripples between our 6 sewing ladies and Gail Roulx. Gail is a volunteer from Topsham, Vermont,
who came to teach our women quilt making, knitting sweaters for our crèche children and pattern design. They call her their "Rani" (queen), and we hope she comes back to visit us again.
October 2009
 Students from St. Johnsbury Academy start fund raising with "apple crisp" to kick off a plan for a trip to India, in February 2010. They will work at our Helping Hearts Creche and participate in challenging health and education initiatives. They are also collecting donations of small wool sweaters for 5 year old children to take with them. Drop point at the Academy, main office.
March 2009
Tom and Marie Theiss, of Chicago, Illinois, arrived in India to spend 2 weeks with us at the crèche's on a fact finding mission in preparation for starting micro loans for women or an employment center. Tom and Marie are good friends of Betsy Dailey, and they look forward to working with us in our crèche's in India.
February 2009
 Kimberly Windisch, a recent art education graduate from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois, has joined us in Kodaikanal for 6 months to work with the children in the crèche's. She has a special project of making a photo booklet explaining our crèche curriculum which will be useful for our donors and supporters.
January 2009
On January 21st, Ann Peck's father died in the USA from pancreatic cancer, just 3 days after Bruce and Ann arrived in India. They rushed home to attend a memorial service in South Carolina with other family members. Harold Franz's final burial will be in Topsham, Vermont, early June.
December 2008
On Monday, we received the wonderful news that the IRS has approved our application for non-profit as a public charity which means all donations are tax deductible.
Write checks to: Help-Kids-India, Inc.
Mail to: Susan Pratt, 371 Topsham Corinth Road, Topsham, VT 05076
Please share the news with friends, family and co-workers that:
- we have no overhead as an office
- we exist only as a website
- a bank account
- a postal address
- group of people working together for the education of impoverished children of India.
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