It’s now official. We will be raising cash for Mercy Corps with the money going to projects in India. The main project is to get the Rickshaws to needy families allowing them to earn a living without having to get an extortionate loan to buy or rent a Rickshaw. Beyond that, the money will be used for rural projects helping some of Asia’s poorest families.
The target is £650 however we would like to smash that.
Please support us by donating to Mercy Corps via JustGiving.com.
(Note for any Sun Microsystems employees, your donation will be matched by Sun, so top marks for them!)
Just so you know exactly how this will work and where your money will be going, below are some extracts from the organisers mail:
We have got the go ahead from Mercy Corps for you lot to start fundraising. You can now raise the money for your rickshaw through Mercy Corps. The Rickshaw will be given to poor families and individuals in Siligury by an NGO working under the watchful eye of Mercy Corps. Giving a Rickshaws to a poor family is huge life changing gift that enables them to earn a living without ending up in impossible debt for the initial purchase. They will provide us with full reports on how the distribution is going and ensure everything is done in a transparent and proper fashion.
The target each team must raise is £650. This is enough to buy the rickshaws and carry out any repairs as well as cover the charities administration costs. All the left over money and the gift aid will be used by Mercy Corps for the projects they already support in the Darjeeling area. See their website for more details. www.mercycorps.org.uk.
As you can see, the money raised is going to cover the cost of the Rickshaws that will be donated at the end of the event. We are hoping to cover the bulk of required £650 with our Fundraising Efforts (Thanks once again to Pete for the pub quiz last night), leaving any extra cash to go to Mercy Corps projects in rural India. We feel this is only fair, as we will be benefiting from the adventure and any costs for repairs should be covered by ourselves.
That link once more: JustGiving.com.
Thanks in advance to all you generous souls out there.