Thursday, April 07, 2011

Welcome Back, Friends!

Namaste, Friends!

In 2006, I visited Nepal for the second time and stayed for two months. While there, I volunteered at a care home for disabled children for a month followed by a visit to the Annapurna Sanctuary with my husband, Doug, and that's how this blog started.  Since then, friends and I have been raising and donating funds to the Disabled Rehabilitation Center (DRC), to help pay for the childrens' surgeries, orthopedic hardware (braces, crutches, special shoes), physical therapy equipment, and costs associated with obtaining health-care.

At DRC back in 2006

While this arrangement worked well for the last 4 years, I've been wanting to fundraise outside of just my circle of friends (who were generous beyond belief!!). So I approached Rob Rose with The Rose International Fund for Children (www.TRIFC.org), an organization based in Bellevue, Washington.  I asked him if his organization would serve as a fiscal sponsor for our donations.  This means that any donation for DRC would go through TRIFC. For our donors, that meant their donations would now be tax-deductible and for DRC it meant that I could pursue other funding sources.

The timing could not have been more perfect as there was a change in management at DRC and my trusted and dedicated primary contact there, Amrit, had to leave the organization. As a result, Rob enlisted the help of a Rotary Club in Kathmandu to help oversee the use of our funds designated for DRC.  I'm happy to say that at this time, they have agreed to oversee the dispersement of funds for surgeries and associated costs, and will work closely with DRC and Nepal Orthopaedic Hospital. So I am glad that we are able to continue to help the children of DRC with local oversight despite the management change.

On another note, Amrit, my previous contact at DRC, moved on to start another organization/care home for disabled children, DHC NewLife Centre (www.dhcnlc.org). He was helped by Rose Falconer and Sue Driscoll, past volunteers at DRC who really helped to improve conditions at DRC. DHC New Life Centre is the home for 13 children, many of whom I know and who have transferred from DRC.

Kids at DHC New Life Center along with staff member, TRIFC volunteers, Rob and Amrit (right most gentlemen).

In March of this year, Rob and Gina Rose returned to Nepal for their annual visit to check in on their projects. Rob was able to visit both DRC and DHC New Life Center.  He was so impressed with Amrit and DHC New Life Center that TRIFC will also serve as a fiscal sponsor!

Okay, there will be more to come!  Thanks for reading through this blog entry and do visit past postings. In future posts, I'll share with you our successes and future needs for both DRC and DHC New Life Center as well as share stories and information about other organizations doing great things in Nepal and around the world.  Please visit and post a comment or two!  If you are interested in donating to DRC and/or DHC New Life Center, please visit www.trifc.org.  In the comments, please designate 'Jackie's projects' and specify if the funds are for DRC and/or DHC New Life Center.

Pheri Bhetaula (see you again),
Jackie

2 comments:

Mary said...

This is great! looking forward to future post!

Jackie's Nepal Blog said...

Thank-you, Mary. Visit again, soon!