Help a new child join the Homes by providing for their education, welfare and accommodation.
Each year, we help around 20 new children come to Kalimpong for a life-transforming education at Dr Graham’s Homes. Some are very young when they join us, with most staying until the end of secondary school. We currently support just over 150 children, but we could be helping so many more!
Our sponsorship scheme
Running for over 100 years, this is the main way we support the children at the Homes.
It’s a really direct way of helping some of the world’s poorest young people and of changing their lives forever. Many of our supporters sponsor a child on their own. Others like to team up with a group - at work, church, or school, for example. However little or much you can afford, your support means the world to us. With your help, we really can change lives.
The scheme is very personal. As a sponsor, you will be linked to an individual child. You’ll receive an introductory email and a photo and, if you’d like to, we encourage you to correspond with your child via our Sponsorship Secretaries. You’ll receive news updates throughout the year, and you can access your sponsored child’s school reports on the school website to see how they’re getting on with their studies.
- it currently costs £2,400 per year (£200 per month) to provide for a child's education, welfare and accommodation for a whole year
- if Gift Aid is added, that amount is reduced to £1,920 per year (£160 per month)
- payments, however large or small, can be made monthly, quarterly or annually
- you can offer a full or part-sponsorship (DGHUK can make up the difference, or link you with another sponsor)
- there's no fixed term – sponsor for as long as you’re able
Who will I be helping?
Our sponsored children come from Kolkata, or from the local area around the Homes. Some have parents, others do not. Some live in abject poverty, whilst the circumstances of others make an education impossible. All the children are in great need. In some cases, the Homes will provide the only proper home that your sponsored child will have before adulthood.
What will my sponsorship provide?
Schooling – a full-time education alongside the Homes’ fee-paying pupils (who make up most of the 1,300-strong population)
Lodging – full term-time boarding (or even year-round accommodation, in the case of some orphaned children) in one of the on-site cottages
Care – support and oversight from the school’s teaching staff, chaplain and the cottage parents
Food, clothing and gifts – all meals while your sponsored child is living at the Homes, funding for their school uniform, and gift money towards holidays, birthdays and similar occasions
What happens when they leave the Homes?
Most sponsored children stay at the school until they complete their secondary education. Many then go on to college or further training in other parts of India. You can carry on supporting these students through our Extended Sponsorship programme.