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Jeffrey Cohen
Dear Portola Jr. High Friends
Three years ago my husband, Mark, and I went to visit a friend in Southern India. We fell in love with India and the local people. The generosity the people showed us and the love that they gave us was overwhelming. Throughout our journeys in India we were introduced to the Sisters at Mercy Home, who take care of 65+ physically and mentally challenged women who are left on their doorstep. Their challenges range from mild physical deformities to major special needs (e.g. blindness to catatonic). The sisters have been taking care of these women for 25 years without enough training or support. They accept people from all races, castes and creeds; no one is turned away. After our first visit, we paid to have two assistants trained to properly care for the women living at Mercy Home. By our second visit there we realized we needed to do more and asked the sisters what else we could do. The sisters showed us blue prints for a new facility. The current facility they have lived in for 25 years is no bigger than some your family rooms or kitchens. They sleep on mats on the floor and some of the elderly have cots. This is what they are used to but these women do not deserve to life this way.
We took on the project to build them a new home located next to their existing home. This home will be able to house/sleep 100 women, and it will be a safer environment for them as well. In the past, some women have wandered away and due to their challenges have not been able to make their way back home. Some have actually died in the fields. The new facility will be enclosed so that the women cannot leave without proper supervision. This new home will be a wonderful and much needed refuge for them to live out their lives a bit more humanely and comfortably.
Full of inspiration, purpose, and optimistic ambition, my husband and I jumped in believing we could do the fundraising necessary to complete this project in one year. We created the Mercy Home Foundation which is a non-profit organization. We are now approaching the start of our 3rd year of fundraising and of asking friends and family for support. To date we have raised over $75,000 of which we have contributed close to half ourselves. Now I am coming to you. I know that it is just before the holiday season and money is tight for a lot of us, but when is the right time to help change someone else’s life. For the past few holiday’s and birthdays we have given the gift of donations to Mercy Home and so have our children. What a great present to give in the name of a loved one, friend or co-worker. What we took on is $150,000 project and we have been able to raise about half of that. A little goes a long way and all that I am asking is for you to give what you can. And if you can‘t give now maybe you can give later.
I appreciate you reading my letter and I thank you in advance for your donation for a project that has touched my heart so much.
Please look at our website www.mercyhomefoundation.com all donations are 100% tax deductible.
Looking forward to seeing you at our next big reunion.
Lauren (Courlang) Finelli
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