VRI virtual gift scheme: Classrooms and Health Camps
our partner project in India works to ensure that girls have the same access to education as boys
buy your friends a pile of bricks
Jafar Pur school is already in use, but more classrooms are needed
getting doctors to the village
give a child a brighter future
Buy your friends a gift that makes a difference
Birthday? Mother's Day? Valentine? Give a gift that's really wanted.
We've all received gifts that have then languished in cupboards or been sold on at car boot sales. And let's be honest, we've probably given some too. So why not consider giving a different kind of present?
VRI is selling ‘virtual’ gifts that will become reality in villages in northern India, enabling you to give a gift with a real difference. We'll produce an attractive certificate for you to give to your friends and family explaining where their classroom/ health camp is and what the project will achieve - and can guarantee this is one gift that won't lie unwanted in a drawer!
We have a variety of packages available depending on how much you want to contribute - perfect for anything from stocking-fillers and Secret Santa presents to major gifts. We can add a personalised message to your gift certificate.
Gift 1: Buy your friends a pile of bricks!
The UK registered charity VRI is selling bricks that will be used to build more classrooms in the village of Jafar Pur, northern India, enabling you to give a gift with a real difference. We'll produce an attractive certificate for you to give to your friends and family explaining where their bricks are and what the project will achieve - and can guarantee this is one gift that won't lie unwanted in a drawer!
The villagers of Jafarpur have asked for the help of VRI's partner project in India in building these classrooms, which will help the existing Jafarpur school provide classes for older children and offer exams on-site. Developing the Jafarpur school will also encourage local parents to send their daughters to school, as local, rural schools are seen as safer than those in large towns and cities.
This virtual gift scheme has been running since Christmas 2009, and several classrooms have been build already. click here for progress report.
Your gift of bricks includes the bricks themselves and a corresponding proportion of the costs of other materials and labour needed to build the whole classroom.
So if you don't want to give another pair of socks, please consider giving a pile of bricks instead!
We have piles of bricks to suit all budgets:
- Secret Santa - 20 bricks - £3
- Quarter-century of bricks - 25 bricks - £4
- Half-century of bricks - 50 bricks - £8
- 100 bricks - £16
- Larger packages (including a whole wall or even a whole classroom!) - please contact us; we would be happy to arrange it!.
Gift 2: Share in a Health Camp
For villagers living in rural areas, getting to a doctor is normally a costly, time consuming and, for people suffering from illnesses, difficult undertaking. This is because most doctors set up their practice in large metropolitan centres, which rural people find hard to access.
The solution offered by VRI’s Indian partner project is to bring good-quality doctors to the villagers in the form of organised health camps. The doctors donate their time without charge, meaning that the only costs are medicines for the villagers and publicising the health camp in surrounding villages. £300 is enough for a health camp that will treat around 350 patients.
So please spread the gift of good health by buying a share in a health camp:
- one sixtieth of a health camp (equivalent to helping around 6 people) - £5
- 5% of a health camp (equivalent to 18 people) - £15
- 10% of a health camp (equivalent to 36 people) - £30
- Whole health camp (approx 360 people) - £300
How do I buy my gift?
- Choose what gift you want to buy.
- If you want your certificate printed and posted to you, please add 90p for printing and postage. (alternatively, we can e-mail the certificate to you free of charge for you to print yourself)
- Make a secure credit card donation via the Charities Aid Foundation e-fundraising website. Just click on the link, go down to "search for a charity", type in charity number 285872 and click Search, check that the charity displayed is "Volunteers for Rural India", then click on the "Donate" link, and quote "pile of bricks" or "health camp" in the description.
- You will receive an e-mail receipt from CAF. Forward it to [email protected], adding any personalised message you would like to appear on the certificate. If you want a printed certificate, please specify the address it is to go to ** remember to add 90p to the price of your pile of bricks if you want a certificate printed and posted to you.
- You will receive a reply from VRI by e-mail, either containing a pdf file for you to print out, or letting you know the certificate has been posted to you. (Please be patient: this scheme is being run by volunteers, so it could be a couple of days before you receive your reply).