JUNE 2015 SPECIAL
EDITION
THE MANGO TREE
HOUSE - A NEW PROJECT
We are very excited to
announce our plans to build The Mango Tree House - a new
pre-primary school and afternoon tuition centre. The land
has already been purchased and is located around a kilometer
from Mango House. We know that The Mango Tree House is
really needed because demand far outweighs the number of
places at both the Mango House pre-primary school and
afternoon tuition classes. This year, without actively
seeking admission, demand for nursery places outstripped
availability two to one. The Mango House team had the
unenviable task of choosing which children to take. It was
an impossible task - all were desperately poor, all deserved
the opportunity. Without a place many children will never go
to school, of those that do many will struggle to stay in
school and many won't get a decent meal each day.
Working alongside Mango House
our new project will enable us to help hundreds more
disadvantaged children to enjoy a healthy, educated
childhood. That's the good news. You will read below,
however, that although we have made a good start we now need
to raise £60,000 to build and equip our new property. We
know this won't be an easy task but we also know that The
Mango Tree House really does have the potential to help so
many children escape from the poverty trap. In answer to the
question "How can you take on such a challenge?" we would
simply answer " How could we not?".
THE MANGO
TREE HOUSE
Running along side our Mango House project The Mango Tree
House will replicate many of the services provided there but
will also have provide better purpose built facilities. The
new House will be built in the style of a typical Goan
primary school but with an upstairs too. Eventually it will
support up to 200 children daily through its pre-primary
school and afternoon tuition classes. it will also have a
dedicated computer/quiet room for the oldest children so
they can drop in as and when they need to to complete
assignments or seek assistance. All children will receive a
nutritious meal and have the support of a social worker,
counsellor and nurse. The Mango Tree House will share many
of the existing Mango House resources such as specialist
staff and transport. By doing this we will be able to double
the number of children we help but only add 50% to the
costs.
OUR BRICK BY
BRICK APPEAL
From funds set aside for the purpose we have already
funded the purchase of the land for The Mango Tree House. It
will cost around £85,000 to build and equip it. Thanks to
the generosity of our supporters we have made a further
£25,000 available towards the building costs. We have a made
a good start but much remains to be done. We have launched a
Brick By Brick Appeal* with the aim of raising the
necessary £60,000. You can read in detail about our Brick By
Brick Appeal
here. We hope that we will be successful in raising the
much of the funds through grants but we really need the help
of our supporters too.
THE URGENT FIRST PHASE
Whilst we would like to build the whole House in one go our
ability to do so will depend entirely on available funds.
Our immediate goal is to start work on the ground floor this
Autumn so that it will be operational for the next school
year. Completion of the ground floor would enable us to pick
up many of the pre-primary children we couldn't accommodate
at Mango House this year and the new intake of primary
school children it won't be able to accommodate in the
2016/17 new school year. It will cost around £45.000 to
complete the ground floor but we already have £25,000
available. We need to raise £20,000 this Summer if we are to
reach this pressing goal. We know its a big amount but
children only get one chance to have an educated childhood.
If you can help in any way at all please do so or get in
touch. For those who are interested in fundraising for us we
have a list of ideas on our website
here . Whatever you can do is important and will mean
you helped provide something which will change hundreds of
children's lives for the better.
OUR BUY A BRICK FUNDRAISER
Our Buy A Brick Fundraiser is an important part of our
Brick By Brick Appeal and one that we hope will enable all
our supporters to play a part in building The Mango Tree
House if they wish. You can read all about the Fundraiser
and how it works
here
but in short everyone who donates £5 or more for a brick(s)
will have their name added to the Wall of Support the Mango
House children are creating. You can see the beginnings of
our wall in our header photo but we want to see all of the
Mango House walls covered with the names of those who helped
make The Mango Tree House possible. Please don't think £5
wouldn't help - we would love to see your name on our wall.
Please buy a brick(s) - it really will help.
AND SO
OUR WALL BEGAN
Pictured above holding the first Buy A Brick Gift Card is
Kumari. You can also see her "brick" in the photo in our Buy
A Brick Article. Kumari is the neice of our very lovely
Project Manager Chantel. During a recent progress meeting
Chantel was shown the Gift Cards and we talked about the
idea that people donate and Buy A Brick themselves or donate
and gift a brick to a loved one. "My neice is 21 next week"
she said "she would love that". So Kumari's name was the
first on our brick but two more bricks quickly followed when
Chantel's sons Kiishan and Rahul raided their money boxes
and donated for bricks too. And so our wall began.
* We are raising funds to build and equip The Mango Tree
House. If for any reason we are unable to build the House or
we have surplus funds left over we will use the donations to
provide other accommodation and equipment for our projects
in Goa.
|
Please help us build a brighter
future for many more disadvantaged children in the area
around Mango House. Click the Donate Online button to make a
donation by debit or credit card or click the Other Ways to
Donate to see our Bank Details and how to make a payment by
cheque.
Don't forget to leave
us a message about the name(s) for any brick(s)
or email us at
mangotreegoa@hotmail.co.uk with the details
if you make a payment directly into our bank.
OUR BRICK BY BRICK LOGO
In order to distinguish between our normal activities and
those supporting our Brick By Brick Appeal we have a new
logo. Wherever you see it you can be sure that a fundraiser,
event or similar is being undertaken to help build The Mango
Tree House.
FOLLOW OUR PROGRESS
We will regularly
update our website with progress towards our
goal. Please keep clicking
here to see the latest position.
INTRODUCING JULIE DAVIS - OUR NEW TRUSTEE
Julie is the latest
addition to our trustee board. The fact that
Julie won an award last year for her outstanding
personal contribution to her company gives a
clue about her drive and determination. Julie is
a passionate Mango Tree supporter with a keen
interest in fundraising. If you think you could
help fundraise for our Brick By Brick let us
know and Julie will be very pleased to discuss
further.
MEET CHANTEL RAM - OUR PROJECT MANAGER
We are very
fortunate that Chantel Ram, one of our
supporters, happens to be a qualified Project
Manager. A busy Mum of two young sons we
tentatively asked if she might be prepared to
volunteer her services as a Project Manager to
help guide us through our Project. Without any
persuasion she jumped on board and will be a
huge help in ensuring we keep on top of things.
We say a huge thank you for the extra support at
this time.
GROUND DEVELOPMENT LTD DONATE 3 LAPTOPS
We were thrilled to hear of an unexpected boost to our
quest to provide a computer room for the older children. Our
wonderful ambassadors Eddie and Yvonne (seen above) told
Eddie's employers Ground Developments Ltd of Livingston that
we were in need of computers and amazingly they donated
three laptops and bags. We say a huge thank you to Ground
Developments for their continued support and to Eddie and
Yvonne too.
COULD YOU BE A BRICK?
Alongside our Online Buy A Brick campaign we
also have Buy A Brick Flyers and Thank You
Cards. We really do need as many people as
possible to sell our bricks so if you think you
could we would be delighted to hear from you.
Any amount will help so don't be put off if you
could only sell a few. You can see a sample of
the cards we can give you
here . |
