And now I believe it! FOCI has been a fortunate little organization. We have many supporters with many talents. I often get lots of credit because I founded this Charity, but believe me- it would be nothing without the generosity of "all kinds" of people. Let me tell you about a few......
I have a friend who has an amazing daughter. When FOCI was just a baby charity, Liz gave me lots of advice about how I needed to publicize this organization. She actually BUILT the website we host.... this one right here! www.for1child.org! And she told me many secrets and tips about how to keep it up and keep it current. She is a genius.
Then there is Nikki. She is my star photographer and occasional travelling partner. Almost all of the pictures on the FOCI website can be credited to her. She even takes my "beginner photos" and puts them into beautiful movies to capture the moments of each year. Nikki told me that I needed a Facebook "page". That's rocket science to me, I didn't even know what that meant. But of course, we have a page now, and here you are on that page!
Then there is a wonderful friend who is a lawyer who gave me all the starter advice about creating a corporation, a 501(c)3 charity, and the fancy schmancy paperwork that has to get done. He was a great supporter, and he is a sponsor now.
Of course, there are the sponsors and donors who make it come to life! We have hundreds of individual people giving what they can to help one, or maybe even two, children in India to have a better life. Some can't give money so they share my posts to promote the program and tell friends about it. All that helps immensely! This January of 2019 we took our 67th child into the FOCI program. can you believe it? I am amazed.....
Speaking of amazed.... there is my inspiration..... my little brother, thambi we say in Tamil, who helped me to refine this wild idea in the first place. He enlists the support of his entire family to help me pull off the FOCI gathering each year. His family is now part of my family and he keeps inspiring me everyday because he is kind and generous without fail.
He is a pretty good role model for a little brother.....
and finally..... the girl in the picture..... Kim has a business called RedCurl Creative. She writes content for people who are selling their business products or services on the internet. I wondered if she could help me, she too is a friend I met through another friend. She said she didn't know much about India, but she would try. And try she did!!!! Our website is updated and wonderful due to her efforts. She not only wrote the content after long conversations with me, she updated it on the website and told me that there is this phenomenon called "blogging" - I was skeptical, but she's the expert so .......
ta-da! we have a blog!
Keep watching for my Facebook posts, I will put my blog links in the comments so you can get to the easily, but once you are here, browse around on the website, look at the movies, send me a message to come speak to a group you belong to, hit the donate button and help a child!
there is a pattern here. can you see it? It is friendship. All of the people who are involved in or supporting FOCI have this common bond of friendship, whether they know each other or not, they are good people doing good things who I am proud to call a friend. Thanks to all of you. Nanban. That is Tamil for Friend.
