A N N U A L R E P O R T

2010 2011

The Hope House Working to nurture and empower children.

HOPE House expresses its heartfelt gratitude to the following supporters

Christian Medical College, Vellore Sekar & Sandhya Foundation, Vellore Students of Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) & Auxillium College, Vellore Rotary Club of Vellore Rotary Club of Williamstown, USA YRG Care, Chennai Hope House International, Chico, CA, USA Southcrest Baptist Church, Lubbock, TX, USA Redeemer Church, Lubbock, TX, USA Betenbough Homes, Lubbock, TX, USA Cole Therapy Center, Houston, TX, USA Heavensent Ministries, WV, USA International Protestant Church, Brussells, Belgium Individual Donors like you

Front Page Picture was taken during a picnic to Karigiri in June, 2010

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Details of the organization as of 31/03/2011

Name of the organization: The Hope House Registered as: A Charitable Trust Date organization registered: November 25th, 2004. Registration number: 1268/2004 Registered office address: 16/28, 25th East Cross Road, Gandhinagar, Vellore 632006 Communication Address: 16/28, 25th East Cross Road, Gandhinagar, Vellore 632006 Chief Functionarys contact: Mr. Ruby Nakka, Door No. 1, 7th East Cross Road, Gandhinagar, Vellore, Phone: 0416-2244816 (Home), 9629471920 (Mobile), rubynakka@hotmail.com (Email) Vision Statement: Nurturing children to become successful and responsible citizens. Mission Statement: Our mission is to provide care and protection to the needy children by giving access to education, enabling participation and empowering them with information about their rights and responsibilities Objectives of the Trust:
(as per the clause # 6 of the Trust Deed)

1. To establish, to run and maintain an orphanage for the homeless, casteless orphans, to protect them from poverty, loneliness and illiteracy. 2. To take or give adoption of orphans including new born babies and children 3. To serve them food, shelter, clothing, education and employment 4. To develop and implement projects for self employment to achieve self reliance among women 5. To serve for the educational development of the socially and economically backward students. To provide best and useful

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computer education at a very low cost affordable by the students in the rural areas 6. To spread literacy among women and the working uneducated youth through non-formal methods of education 7. To develop plans and implement the same for the development of women and children 8. To take up development projects of the state and central governments and to assist them to implement its various but similar projects 9. To develop fine arts and culture of national interest 10. To organize quiz programs, various competitions, seminars, etc among school students 11. Award of scholarships to socially and economically backward students for higher studies 12. Guidance and counseling for students and educational institutions 13. To develop proper scientific attitude among students, teachers and the general public. 14. To work for the development of Science and Technology throughout the country especially in rural areas. 15. To provide medicines, boarding and lodging for the poor, both young and old, male and female students.

Names of the Board of Trustees as of March 31st, 2011 1. Mr. Ruby Nakka President & Director 2. Dr. Rajan Samuel Managing Trustee 3. Mrs. Vinodhini Nakka Managing Trustee 4. Mr. Thomas Mathew Board of Trustee 5. Mr. Manoah Mohanraj Board of Trustee 6. Mrs. Sujo Samuel Board of Trustee 7. Mr. David Samuel Board of Trustee

Relationships of Board of Trustees: Board of Trustees 1,2,3,6 and 7 are related either by blood or through marriage.

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Remuneration received by the Board of Trustees during the year: Rs. 1,20,000/- to Mr. Ruby Nakka who also works as an Executive Director of the HOPE House. Dates when the Board of Trustees meetings held 1. 23rd January, 2011 2. 28th February, 2011 3. 31st March, 2011

80 G Status: Granted 80 G status in 2006 and currently it is active FCRA Status: Applied in November, 2009 and awaiting approval PAN Number: AABTT0804G Number of full time employees: Five Number of part time employees: One (Tuition Master for the boys home) Number of volunteers or honorary employees: One Highest paid Salary: Rs. 10,000/- per month (Paid to the Executive Director) Lowest Paid Salary: Rs. 1250/- per month (Paid to the cook). This employee had also received free food, accommodation and utilities throughout the year. Bank Account Details: Both domestic and foreign accounts are with State Bank of India (Vellore Town Branch). Domestic bank account number is 10404160337 and the foreign account number is 30040652570

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Salary distribution table

Full Time Employees Male Above Rs. 10,000/Between Rs. 10,000/- to Rs. 5,000/Below Rs. 5,000/Honorary Female Part time employees Male Female Honorary Employees Male Female

2 3* 1 1

*Staff received free food, accommodation and utilities throughout the year.
Expenses on International travel incurred by the staff: Zero Expenses on International travel incurred by the Board of Trustees on behalf of the Hope House: Zero

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Directors Thoughts
Dear Friend, It is my privilege to write this activity report for one more year for the year completed (2010 to 2011). Dec. of 2010 also marked a completion of 5 years for the Hope House. It would be an understatement to say that it was a challenging year on many fronts. As I write this report, we are still waiting for our FCRA registration which we have submitted in November, 2009. Girls home housing is an issue that we can do nothing about than to face the challenge head on. It would be unfair to state just the challenges but not the blessings. We have had so many people come forward to give us advice/ suggestions/ and financial assistance. Many of you have prayed for us during the difficult times and we couldnt do without you. Because of our financial situation being the way it has been, our programs remained the same this year as last year. It is our hope that as soon as FCRA registration comes, we would like to begin building a girls home on priority and start a new program called Learn & Earn where adolescent children learn life skills while earning money. We have already demonstrated this program and talked to few experts in the field and the response has been good so we are eagerly waiting to start. Out of the three goals we had set out in the last activity report, we have obtained the fit institution certification from the government of Tamilnadu and got listed by Credibility Alliance. Although started the process, procedural hurdles have delayed the listing of GiveIndia. We have also designated a staff member as a Development Officer dedicated to fund-raising. About applying for the adoption agency license, it was deliberately delayed till FCRA registration due to the financial difficulties. Before I close, I want take this as an opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to God and to each one of you who have taken special interest to support us. Without you; we couldnt have continued our operations. It is my hope and prayer that youll continue to support us in the year ahead. Sincerely

Ruby Nakka

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Overview of the HOPE House

HOPE House (HH) was started operations in 2005. It is a vision of three Non-Resident Indians living in the US. In 2004 when one of the three had adopted a baby girl from India, they were touched by the blessing of their daughter but moved by the stories of other children that need a place. In 2006, one of the family relocated to India to be part of the operations of the HOPE House and the second friend joined them in 2009. HH operates a childrens home for girls to care and provide for the orphan, semi-orphan and disadvantaged girls. HOPE House operates in a town called Vellore in Tamilnadu and most of the children that they caters to come from in and around Vellore. HH started with two children and currently they care for 16 girls. Girls receive everything that they need to stay in a hygienic environment under an adult supervision and to be able to pursue education. HOPE Houses operations are modeled on Rights Based Approach which emphasizes teaching the girls about their rights and responsibilities. HH also works with families that need help in the communities. Objective of this program is to discourage families from bringing children to institutions by providing them with needed help in their own communities. Mostly families that are affected by HIV/ AIDS are being chosen for this program and given financial assistance on a monthly basis to purchase milk, toiletries (shampoos, soaps and coconut oil etc) and groceries from a public distribution shops (ration shop). Currently HOPE House helps about 20 families. Families in this program are required to be in continuous treatment and to send the school going age children to school. Third and the last program that the HOPE House is been working with is called CoManagement. Objective of this program is to work with the state government to enhance the quality of life of children in government homes through extending resources of any kind that are not covered in the budgetary allocation of the state. HH currently works with a Government childrens home for boys in Ranipet were we run a full fledged library with computer and internet connection. We enable children to have higher quality of life by extending help where the institution believes we can add value. Government doesnt extend any financial assistance to operate this program.

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1. CHILDRENS HOME FOR GIRLS: This year also the number of girls that we care for remained the same as last year because of the physical infrastructure limitations. Many girls have entered into the adolescent stage that brought newer dimensions to the care of the girls. Average height and weight of HH girls in the past two years 2009 - 2010 April, 2009 Height Weight 134.92 CM 25.28 KG March, 2010 138.68 CM 28.4 KG 2010-2011 April, 2010 139.94 28.16 KG March, 2011 142.63 31.56 KG

All the girls have passed their exams and moved into the next class with highest class being the 9th graders. Two girls chose to go for vocational training so with their families consent, they were admitted in Thanthai Periyar Polytechnic College, Vellore.

Girls growing up as young ladies

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Childrens Investment: Since January, 2009, HOPE House has been encouraging the families to invest minimum of Rs. 50/- (little over a dollar in the US) in girls post office account (like a bank account). Although there was resistance in the beginning, as time went on, families understood the reasoning and meaning behind this program and began saving. During the year 2010 2011 this program is continued and HOPE House is proud to announce that many of our girls have several thousand rupees in their accounts today which would be given to them with interest (of about 8%) when they turn 18. Now, many families express regret for not starting at a higher amount in the beginning. It is the HOPE Houses way of enabling children to contribute to the nation building while helping themselves.

Child of the Month Award: What started on January 1st, 2010 as a measure to teach children the good behavior through positive reinforcement and to help the staff to move away from unacceptable modes disciplining a child, has blossomed into a well accepted activity by the children. All the children are evaluated on seven different categories (such as nutrition, academics, personal hygiene, and helping nature etc) and one child is chosen as the child of the month. We normally invite a guest from outside to give away the prize (cash prize of Rs. 25/- and any other items of use for the child) to make the child feel important for her achievements. Child can win any number of times in a row and at the end of the year in December of 2010, all the children were asked to vote on anyone of their peers to be selected as a Child of the Year. Surprisingly, girls voted two girls (M. Priya and H. Priya) as the joint winners of that award (Rs. 500/- split between the two).

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(H. Priya receiving a Child of the Month award from a local doctor) Creative Teaching: Since we send all our children to government schools due to resource crunch, children were engaged in learning through creative ways. In February of 2010, HOPE House started a library, so there we started a Book Club where few children would run the library two times a week for an hour to disburse books. We had also subscribed to a general knowledge magazine called Puthiya Thalamurai and got an annual subscription for a Tamil and an English newspaper. Children were asked to read the papers everyday and write a news item of their choice on a white board to ensure compliance to develop the interest. Children learnt to use the magazine for identifying vocations, library for reading books, newspapers (English) for improving reading skills and the

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internet (Google Earth and Youtube) for geography and science experiments respectively.

(Girls reading Puthiya Thalamurai magazine.) Recreational Activities: Throughout the year, children were engaged in various kinds of recreational activities that have educational and personal development value in them. Girls were taken on picnics, engaged in dance competitions, daily quizzes to improve English and Math skills, weekly debates and fashion parade etc.

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(Sandhya participating in a fashion parade that is primarily designed to boost confidence )

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Girls participating in dance competitions

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Five year completion: December of 2010 marked completion of five years of our operations. So we combined our celebrations with Christmas program and rejoiced with families, friends and supporters. Girls performed Christmas dances and received gifts given by CMC, Vellore. At the end, we all had a fellowship dinner.

(Picture taken just before the Christmas function with two of our lady staff).

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Audited Accounts For the year 2010 - 2011

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Statement of Total Income

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Consolidated Receipts and Payment Account for the year ended 31.03.2011

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The Hope House Working to nurture and empower children.

Consolidated Receipts and Payment Account for the year ended 31.03.2011

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Consolidated Balance Sheet as on 31.03.2011

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2. CHILDRENS HOME FOR BOYS @ RANIPET: HOPE House has been continuing with the Co-Management operations at the childrens home for boys at Ranipet. Last year on April 25th, HOPE House has facilitated an outing for all the 12 grade boys for two days at a nearby hill station (Yelagiri) where they were given vocational counseling and guidance by Dr. Bennette Benjamin. Boys had fun trekking and playing apart from getting valuable advice.

(HOPE Houses Program Director Mr. Thomas Mathew counseling the boys)

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Currently, HOPE House is supporting seven boys from that group for higher education under The Educational Assistance Program (TEAP). They are pursuing different courses ranging from Engineering to Catering Technology to Teachers Education.

(Boys on a trekking trip) HOPE House also supported the boys home for an year long private tutor to assist in the difficult subjects such as Maths. Provided Internet connection to two computers with a full time staff to assist the children access valuable information pertaining to career planning.

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Provided Rain-Coats to all the boys that were attending school outside of childrens home. Purchased and arranged for clip boards for the boys to be taken from the HOPE House office during their exams. Purchased musical instruments Facilitated a medical camp by Cole Therapy Center, Houston, TX, USA during the month of January, 2011 for speech and cognitive impairments among the children. Five therapists (three Occupational Therapist and Two Speech Therapists) came altogether. Several boys were identified and recommendations were given which were followed in consultation with the local tertiary level hospital in Vellore.

3. COMMUNITY OUTREACH PROGRAM: Community Outreach Program is continuing to support families that are affected with HIV and in need of nutritional support. Last year, HOPE House has expanded the program to include families that are affected with life altering disabilities. Currently, HOPE House supports the families for half a liter of milk per month, cosmetics (such as shampoo, soaps, and coconut oil) and monthly groceries purchased from public distribution system. We have created a simple sliding scale to measure the monthly benefit eligibility to ensure that the families do not become passive dependents on the HOPE House which is helping the families to earn more for themselves. It is also noted that due to the Community Outreach Program, many families have gotten networked with the other families and become empowered on many fronts to live a life that is productive and useful for themselves and for others.

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On average, HOPE House helps 20 families every month and maximum help eligible is Rs. 600/- per month per family. 4. AWARENESS: In the month of April, 2010, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) had organized a symposium on a topic titled Social Entrepreneurism. VIT had invited the HOPE House to set up a stall which was accepted with humility and responded. HOPE House staff conveyed the message pertaining to child rights and distributed many hand outs to the participants on the same topic.

HOPE House stall being set up at VIT during Social Entrepreneurism symposium.

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5. VISITORS: We appreciate the following individuals and teams that have chosen to visit the HOPE House during the year 2010 2011. Teal Horseman, Chico, CA USA (Visit was facilitated by Hope House International) Betenbough Homes, Lubbock, TX - USA Cole Therapy Center, Houston, TX USA

6. GOALS: We set ourselves the following goals to accomplish for the next year 2011 2012 Get listed by GiveIndia Complete FCRA Registration Apply for Adoption Agency license (contingent upon FCRA registration) Begin the building construction for girls home (contingent upon FCRA registration) Complete the permanent registration of the HOPE House under JJ Act. Work with the Rotary club of Vellore to complete obtaining the mini-bus thats promised to the HOPE House.

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