Meagan and Allen were recently married and creatively included Christel House in their special day. Soon after, we received the note below from Meagan. She writes...

Dear Christel House,

We are glad to be of help with our donation and happy to share our story with you. We actually borrowed the idea of making a charitable contribution for a favor from my husband's cousin, whose wedding took place a couple months before ours. We went to their reception and on each place setting, where one would traditionally see a favor, there was a card explaining that a charitable donation had been made to an organization in the guest's honor. I thought it was so nice knowing that a deserving charity received a donation instead of me getting some candy a, shot glass or other typical favor item. I overheard a number of other guests echo my sentiments regarding the favor.

I talked it over with Allen and we decided that a donation would also be a great way for us to express gratitude to our guests and give back to those in need. We wanted to choose a charity that had a special meaning to both our lives. My parents are teachers and his family also has a strong history of supporting education (among other things, his grandmother had been Chief Education Officer of South Kanara district in the state of Karnataka, India) so we thought a charity that helped children with their education would be very appropriate. I remembered seeing an article on my company's website (Target) about a donation that the company had made to Christel House India in Bangalore, India. I had not heard of Christel House before but, my husband happens to be from Bangalore so, that made the idea of giving to Christel House all the more meaningful.

I did an internet search to learn more about the organization. I was delighted to learn that Christel House not only helped children in Bangalore but, also in the USA and other parts of the world. It's easy to see that the work that Christel House is doing truly an impact and I was impressed by the promise that 100% of donations would directly assist children in need. It was obvious from the many testimonials from personal and corporate sponsors that our donations would make a real difference to kids from both our countries. At each table we included a card, as his cousin had done, explaining to guests guests that we had made a donation in their honor. We also explained about Christel House's mission and that the donations would help children in India, the US and around the world to obtain an education and rise above poverty. We also included the website and encouraged our guests to visit the Christel House website to learn more.

I hope that in addition to our contribution, we succeeded in educating our guests about Christel House International and the important you are doing worldwide. We look forward to supporting your organization with future donations and commend you for the work you are doing.

Yours Truly, Meagan and Allen

Thank you Meagan and Allen. Your creativity and commitment is truly inspiring.

If you'd like more information on creative ways to give, raise funds or to help our children break the cycle of poverty, please don't hesitate to contact us. There are countless ways that YOU can make a WORLD of difference!

Labels: India, letter, Target, testimonial