Neeraja's Campaign for
Happy Feet Home
All Donations are Tax Deductible
under 501c(3)
One day browsing through the internet I came across this caption “Last Days of Dying Children Are Filled with Joy by a Mumbai Woman, Mansi Shah. I felt instantly drawn to the story.
As I read the story I was very happy to hear that Mansi Shah and her team started” Happy Feet Home” (HFH), a palliative care center for children and young adults in India in August 2014 .
I learnt that the mission of HFH is to provide free of cost emotional, psycho-social, educational/vocational,and nutritional support to children and young adults with life threatening and life limiting illnesses. I reached out to Mansi Shah, and she responded promptly, and explained the mission, journey, and the services HFH offered.
Mansi told me that the children coming to HFH had life threatening illness. Mansi further explained that some of the children were 'HIV positive' and that some of them were afflicted by cancer, and that some suffered from 'Thalassemia major'. I researched these illnesses to better understand the complexities of the disease and the challenges the children face to get treatment.
I quickly understood that the most concerning issue in addition to the life threatening illness itself is the fact that many of the HFH children and their families come from low-socioeconomic backgrounds and therefore, do not have access to good nutritious food, adequate health care and psychological and emotional support. I also learnt that some of these children and young adults had limited or no immediate family since their parents were deceased. Mansi’s explanation that HFH offers holistic day-care services to children under palliative care struck a chord within me. I realized that HFH’s mission of providing a caring, loving, and nourishing environment for children and young adults afflicted with life terminal illness was simply divine.
I also listened to Mansi’s Josh Talk on HFH. In the talk, Mansi mentioned that some of the children had never ever been embraced by their family or friends. I just stopped in my tracks when I heard this. This kind of situations will continue to happen unless programs such as HFH are in place.
I support Mansi Shah and her team at HFH. I request you to join me in helping raise funds to make sure that HFH has adequate resources so that appropriate programs are in place to ensure that no child is left alone as they struggle with terminal illness. It is imperative that we come together as a community to support these children to let them know that they are not alone in their journey. Being able to fill the life of a dying child with joy and to engage with the children and their family with Grace is Divine. It is God Like.
Please join me in my efforts to help HFH continue caring for these beautiful souls.
Sincerely,
Neeraja Erraguntla