THE BACKGROUND :

It is indeed terrible when you have to grow up without the care and love of a parent or both parents. This campaign is about children who have lost a parent or both parents during COVID and is all about giving them hope, support, and a chance at rebuilding their lives. In many cases, the breadwinner in the family has passed away and the children and mother (in most cases) have a very bleak future as they are financially, emotionally and physically in a very vulnerable situation.

These children and in many cases the mother and children need our support and love. They have dreams and ambitions, just like us. 

How do we impact the emotional well-being of the child?

How do we take care of the cost of education for these children?

How do we counsel the child and surviving parent so that they rebuild their life?

THE INITIATIVE:

The Chennai-based NGO - Bala Mandir Kamaraj Trust has come up with a unique initiative called “Kinship Care” to address this problem. This is being done in 9 districts of Tamil Nadu currently and is already impacting a massive 800 children. All it takes is INR 20,000 to impact a child for an entire year. Read this story to understand how this program works and fund generously. All funding has 80G tax benefits.

Kinship Care Programme differs in its approach based on the age of the children it serves :

CASE STUDY AND IMPACT STORIES:

JUST INR 20,000 WILL SUPPORT A CHILD FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR.

IF YOU FUND,

• INR 5,000, you support a child for 3 months

• INR 10,000, you support a child for 6 months.

• INR 40,000, you support a child for 24 months.

All funding has 80G tax benefits.

THE EXPENSES THAT GO INTO KINSHIP CARE:

ABOUT ME:

My name is Venkatachalam Chinniah. I am a concerned citizen who wants to make a difference in the lives of these children.

This campaign is extremely close to my heart. I have taken up this initiative because I think being able to impact the lives of these children who have lost a parent/parents during COVID is extremely important. These children otherwise would face a very uncertain future.

The average cost of supporting a child for an entire year via the Kinship Care program is just INR 20,000. This includes school fees, counseling, emotional support, group activities, and other elements of improving their mental well-being. Your support will definitely give them hope, and comfort and will positively impact their lives. Please support my campaign as we can together support many such children and change their lives for the better.

MAP SHOWING DISTRICTS IN TN WHERE THIS PROGRAM RUNS:

ABOUT THE BALA MANDIR KAMARAJ TRUST (BMKT):

Bala Mandir is a Chennai-based NGO that was started in 1949 by the late Sri. K. Kamaraj and Smt. S. Manjubhashini. It is today a premier Social Welfare Organisation, which has over the years sheltered thousands of children in difficult circumstances – orphans, destitute, and socio-economically deprived children – and now the activities are expanded to include children with special needs. Bala Mandir is a registered society under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act, 1975.

With an impeccable track record of a highly ethical and professional approach, Bala Mandir is well known for working towards holistic all-round development of the children under its care. With this in focus, Bala Mandir has gone beyond childcare and rehabilitation and today runs schools (Primary and High School), and centers for children with intellectual disabilities on its campus located in the heart of urban Chennai. Bala Mandir also works beyond its homes and educational institutions on outreach programs to share the best practices in parenting and early childhood practices.

In July 2021 with the pandemic looming large and the world gripped by fear, shock, and uncertainty; Bala Mandir took the plunge to help orphaned children in need. To get started the list of Covid orphans was received from the office of the District Child Protection Officer in Chennai and the nearby districts. Using this list a few existing social workers of Bala Mandir were asked to visit the families to find out their status and need for support including possible admission in Bala Mandir homes. 

The social workers found that the families needed a lot of support but were not willing to send their children to institutions like Bala Mandir. In most of the cases, the children were living with their surviving single parent, kith or kin. The term ‘Kinship Care’ was used for the first time and paved the way for the  ‘Bala Mandir Kinship Care’ unit. It was then decided that these children would be part of Bala Mandir’s ‘virtual homes’ where the children get focused support for their holistic development, from dedicated field social workers similar to what the children in the Bala Mandir homes get. The Kinship Care program has since been extended to cover non-covid deaths also.

TAX BENEFITS :

Funding for this campaign is eligible for tax breaks as the NGO, Bala Mandir Kamaraj Trust is a registered trust and you can avail of benefits under section 80G of the IT Act. Foreign funding is NOT accepted.

FEEDBACK THAT YOU GET:

To ensure that there is complete transparency, I shall get a report from the NGO (this takes between 2 to 3 months, usually after the funds are raised and transferred to them) telling me who benefitted from the funding. The details will then be posted in the UPDATES section of my campaign. As soon as I post an update, the platform will send an EMAIL alert to all the funders - i.e. to you. Click on the link in the email and you can read about who benefitted. That's transparent, right?