Happy Homes

As if John wasn't busy enough with being a pastor of the Chennai Vineyard, overseeing five Unwind centers, managing Acts of Mercy and running the Achiever's Academy (did I miss something?) he's also directing construction of a new facility for young widows called Happy Homes. The plan is to build 32 small homes that will provide a safe place for widows to come and live while they learn new job skills and develop the self confidence they need to become self-sufficient. Happy Homes is being built right now on a two acre property located just a short distance from Mahabalipuram, where the Acts of Mercy office & Achiever's Academy are located. Providing safe homes is critical to the success of the rehabilitation for these widows because of the extreme social pressures on these women. Basically in this part of India, if you are a widow, you are cursed: your parents won't take you back, you are insulted constantly when people see you on the streets, nobody will hire, and you have no place to go. The first building to be built is the 'volunteers house'. This will ultimately be three stories, but the goal is to quickly finish the first floor and put it to use as the new home for the Sparrows of Spendor tailoring shop, and a small apartment unit for a construction project manager.

The biggest challenge right now with completing Happy Homes is raising the remaining capital to do the construction. Each home will cost on average US $5K, and they only have raised enough for about two homes so far in addition to the funds to complete the first floor of the main building. But John has big faith. He passionately believes that God is for this project and the money will come. So how about you? Wanna be a part of this?