Habitat for Humanity

Helping Children

We believe in helping children in need today so they can grow up to become productive members of society, and hopefully, they will one day return the favour by helping other children in need. We also believe in helping children in need because they are one of the most vulnerable groups in society and it is not their fault if they live in poverty or need help. We cannot end world poverty but we will do what we can to help. We also want to help our members develop their leadership skills and to have fun by organizing events that will benefit children in need.

The goals of Eyes Of Hope are
1. Leadership Development
2. Community Invovlement (helping children, homeless program, providing affordable housing (Habitat for Humanity)
3. Having Fun

Our primary projects involve fundraising for a school in Sierra Leone and sponsoring two children oversees.

Building a school in Sierra Leone Africa

About the school
The first goal of the Eyes of Hope club is to raise $8500 to build a school in Sierra Leone through free the children. The school will promote equal education opportunities by maintaining an equal gender ratio of boys and girls.

Some of the ways that funds will be raised will be by selling food such as hamburgers, drinks and chocolate, and asking for donations from individuals around campus and in classes

An old saying states, “ If you give a man a fish, you can feed him for a day, but if you teach a man to fish you can feed him for a lifetime.” This means that education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty, so by building a school in Sierra Leone , we hope to give these children, and their children, a future.

Free the Children
We have chosen to support Free the Children because of their record of success and they spend money efficiently. Free the Children has built over 500 schools around the world. It has received the World’s Children’s Prize ( the Children's Nobel Prize) for the Right of the Children, the Human Rights Award from the World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations, and has formed successful partnerships with Oprah’s Angel Network. It spends 91 cents out of every dollar donated on programs and only 9 cents on administrative costs. More information regarding Free the Children can be found at http://www.freethechildren.com/index.php.


Sponsoring 2 children in developing countries

About child sponsorship
We are sponsoring Demidzundui and Rose through World Vision Canada on an ongoing basis. Sponsoring a child costs $35 a month per child and provides the children with nutritious food, clean water, shelter, healthcare, and an education.

Last year, the civil engineering classes sponsored the children by passing around buckets to collect change on a monthly basis. This year, we will ask the undergraduate classes to continue sponsor the two children. The funds to sponsor the children also comes from Eyes Of Hope fundraising events.

Information about our first sponsored child: Demidundui (see sponsored children updates on our facebook album: click <HERE for 2008 > <HERE for 2009>)
Demidurndui is an 11 year-old boy who lives with his parents in the Arkhangai province of Mongolia . Through the latest progress report from World Vision, Demidundui is in good health and goes to school and is in the 4 th grade. His favourite subject is Mongolian. His house hold chores involve cutting wood and carrying water. The highlight of last year was the New Year celebrations and he loves to ride a horse.

Information about our second sponsored child: Rose (see sponsored children updates on our facebook album: click <HERE for 2008 > <HERE for 2009>)
Rose is a bright young girl who loves to attend school and her favourite subject is her local language. She lives in the slums of Bangalore with her parents and brother. She speaks Tamil at home and loves to play with toys. Her father is working as a daily wage labourer and her mother works as a household helper, but their income is not sufficient to provide for the family. Our sponsorship will help provide Rose with a future, and hopefully, one day, she will be able to return the favour and help others.

About World Vision Canada
World Vision Canada is Canada ’s largest private relief and development agency. In 2008, 82 cents out of every dollar raised by World Vision is spent on programs. We have chosen to sponsor children through World vision because World Vision is good at providing us with regular updates of our sponsored children and their progress so we can be confident that we are making a difference and our money is being spent to help children. More information about World Vision Canada can be found at www.worldvision.ca.



How Can I Help?

We always welcome new members to join our committee to take charge of organizing new/existing events that will help children in need. Please e-mail eyesofhope@utoronto.ca for more information.