The Cork-based Hope Foundation has lived up to its name: the dream of three Cork women who wanted to do something tangible in the Third World has touched the lives of thousands of street children in Calcutta and many others whose lives have been devastated by natural disasters in other areas of the subcontinent.
This time last year, our television screens were full of the misery which an earthquake wreaked on Gujarat. Schools, villages and families were wiped out and those left behind in the rubble had to face hunger, disease and appalling suffering without shelter.
By day, the temperatures were unbearable, by night, the people were freezing. The Hope Foundation went into this maelstrom with basic provisions as well as plastic sheeting for makeshift shelter.
A year later, many of the survivors are still living under plastic, the final death toll is unknown, and by and large, the attention of the world has moved on. The Hope Foundation, founded by Edith Wilkins, Maureen Forrest and Celina Daly, has received €190,000 (£149,637) from the Ireland Aid Programme of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and with this money aims to build permanent homes for 200 people in the Buhj region of Gujhrat.
Its work since the disaster has never stopped and the fundraising goes on. So far, the foundation has raised more than €1.26 million. In its latest appeal, Hope has enlisted the support of schools in the Munster area where children from Cork and Waterford have sold some 35,000 chocolate bars to raise money for the street children of Calcutta. In one school, St Michael's, Rosscarberry, the pupils sold 6,000 bars.
Prior to her departure yesterday for a month in Calcutta, Ms Forrest said talks and video presentations in the schools had alerted the more fortunate Irish children to the lives many Indian children their own age had to endure, and they had been very willing to help.
The plan is to extend the scheme next week to schools in Dublin, Clare and Kerry and after that, the entire country. "The reaction has been wonderful, what we see is children reaching out to children," she added.
It's now three years since the foundation was established and next Thursday in Calcutta there will be a day of celebration for the street children. It will involve four hours of music, dance, song and pageant put on by the children themselves as well as performers from different parts of India, and - crucially for Hope - it will be attended by the governor of West Bengal, Mr Vireh Shah. His presence, says Ms Forrest, amounts to official recognition of the foundation's work, and marks a huge step forward. In Calcutta, Hope works with six Indian NGOs, staffed mainly by educated young people who are helping to empower others.
The celebration has been organised by the foundation's deputy director in the city, Ms Geeta Venkadakrishnan, who has persuaded a local businessman to sponsor 2,000 lunches on the day. If his schedule allows, the Irish ambassador to India, Mr Philip McDonagh, will also attend. Otherwise, an official from the embassy will be present.