Case Studies
A visit to Goodwill by Sue Huggins & Helen Bishop
Pattiveeranpatti
What a welcome when we arrived, late one night just before Christmas after two days travelling. .'What is your name? Sit down, sister'. Chairs were brought over to us. They had just finished their Christmas entertainment programme, but they closed their eyes and sang us a traditional prayer song, very moving. I could recognise the sacred Om or Aum sound and the names of Hindu gods. We were then sat down to a meal of curry, rice, chicken and chapattis. 'Eat with your right hand.' It was the norm to eat with one's fingers, with the right hand only. Read more »
Being a Sponsor by Joan Meldrum
When Alan came back from Goodwill India in 1995 where he volunteered to set up the trade training courses for school leavers, he was very enthusiastic about the work Goodwill was doing to help the children in its care. We went back to Goodwill again in 1996 to see what further progress had been made in the Trade Training area, this put us in no doubt that we should sponsor one of the children. We decided on a little girl called Dhanalakshmi, who was 6, and whose family situation meant that they could not afford to feed her or send her to school. Read more »
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Visit to India by Joan & Alan Meldrum
It is 10 years since my husband Alan had visited Goodwill; last time he was there it was to see the progress on the Trade Training Courses that he had set up. As a Trustee I had visited three years ago, and so we decided to visit again to see old friends and how things had progressed. Read more »
Sheffield Supporter Group
Sitting round a table chatting and drinking coffee is a particularly pleasant way of raising money for Goodwill! Of course there is an end product – hundreds of greetings cards remade for sale to friends, churches, luncheon clubs and at coffee mornings. The Sheffield Support Group has been fund raising for Goodwill for over 30 years now and makes around £2000 a year. Read more »
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The Buffalo Herd take on the Bristol Half Marathon
On the morning of Sunday 6th September Bristol came to life in the form of 16,000 courageous (or maybe crazy) people who were taking part in the 21st Bristol Half Marathon. We are proud to say that five brave members of the Buffalo Herd were amongst the runners and all five successfully completed the 13 mile course in rather respectable times! Better still, they managed to raise an outstanding £1,230 plus £307 Gift Aid for Goodwill Children's Homes which is a well deserving UK based charity that provides care and education for destitute children in South India. Read more »
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Weston Card Makers
About 20 years ago All Saints Church in Bath had a guest speaker in the morning service called George Kent, the National Co-ordinator for the Goodwill Children's Homes. The particular thing that struck a cord with me was that the cost of a packet of refresher sweets that I occasionally used to buy my children after church would keep a child fed, educated, clothed and housed at Goodwill for a day! I decided there and then to collect cards to give to George to re-make and sell in aid of the homes. Read more »
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Duke of Edinburgh Award Expedition
In October, 2007, 30 sixth formers from St. Margaret's school, Exeter visited Thandigudi. This was the schools third visit and was organised by Mrs Elaine Clark who co-ordinates the Duke of Edinburgh Award at the school. Read more »
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Mareeswari's Story
Mareeswari's mother died in childbirth, leaving her father to support her alone. As an unskilled labourer the work her father does is both casual and very low paid, so even when work is available, it is not enough to provide little Mareeswari with adequate food. Read more »
