In addition to its commitment to becoming a predominant education and medical facility, Christian Medical College (CMC) and Hospital of Vellore is dedicated to building sustainable communities among the indigenous population of South India. The history of the Jawadhi Hills Model Villages Program has its beginning when CMC founder Dr. Ida Scudder initiated the “Roadside Clinics” more than 100 years ago. The Vellore CMC Foundation launched the Jawadhi Hills Model Villages Program Campaign in January 2022 to help CMC build upon the holistic community approach that they have adopted thus far, by further enhancing the capabilities of 3 existing villages while introducing a fourth program into one additional entrenched community.
Our campaign goal was to raise $200,000 to support comprehensive access to health care, early infectious disease prevention, clean water, hygiene/sanitation, education, and social programs to improve the overall health of the village and its socioeconomic status. Within our proposal and budget statement, we provided subcategories of need with dollar amounts, making it easier for our donors to invest according to their mission priorities.
We strategically promoted this campaign through our website and brochures, virtual events like the Ecumenical Leadership Forum and our digital newsletter, Passages. At the Foundation’s Ecumenical Leadership Forum, Dr. Anu Rose who is the Director of the Jawadhi Hills Programs within CMC’s Department of Community Health and Development (CHAD), emphasized that the Model Villages Program is most importantly about building relationships, accurately accessing needs and empowering through education to encourage a “partnership” rather than a “provider” mentality. Working in sync with the Don Bosco Tribal Society, CHAD’s most recent reports show that one model village is now completely self-sufficient and has even built-up corpus in a village bank account.
In response to this campaign, many of our faith-based allies, U.S. alumni and loyal friends of our Foundation, pledged their support and partnered in this opportunity to become an integral part of a community empowerment initiative. One of our Church donors shared that their youth raised funds for global mission which were then earmarked for the specific need categories of hygiene and sanitation. As the campaign progressed and through our fundraising and friend-raising efforts, we received gifts from new donors, and adequate funding for project infrastructure requirements while building stronger reciprocal relationships and mutuality of mission within our donor network. Most significantly, God’s Divine intervention and provision throughout the year continued to astound us! Nearing the end of December 2022, we were about 94% towards our goal. Miraculously and just in time, we received some sizable donations from three of our most generous supporters, allowing us to exceed our expectations and goal for this fundraising campaign!
