Aura’s House is an

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

project, which raises funds for needy children and their families. Specifically, Aura’s House raises funds for housing, health, income generation, and education projects for needy children in

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...

. * Aura’s House was originally created to raise $4,500 to build a safe, sturdy brick home for the founder's sponsored child, Aura Hernandez and her family in

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. Since that goal was met in November 2004, Aura’s House began to launch other small projects in an effort to help bring big changes to the lives of families in developing countries. * Aura's House has been working in conjunction with

Children International Children International is a global nonprofit humanitarian organization that helps children break the cycle of poverty. It addresses children’s critical needs through early intervention and regular interaction in community centers. The goal is t ...

since February 2003. 100% of donations go toward their projects and are 100% US Tax Deductible. All persons working at Aura’s House are volunteers who receive no form of monetary payment for their efforts.

History

* Aura's House originally began in February 2003 when Kristen Palana, a Professor of Digital Media at

William Paterson University William Paterson University, known as WP, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey, United States. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Founded in 1855 an ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

was learning

PHP PHP is a general-purpose scripting language geared towards web development. It was originally created by Danish-Canadian programmer Rasmus Lerdorf in 1993 and released in 1995. The PHP reference implementation is now produced by the PHP Group. ...

programming and adding dynamic content to websites. Kristen wanted to originally use the site to raise $4500 to build a sturdy brick home for her sponsored child, Aura in Guatemala with the help of Children International. After waiting over a year for all the required permissions from Children International, finally on June 30, 2004 the site was ready to launch. * Aura's House has raised money for children and their families in the following countries: Guatemala,

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

, Mexico,

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, India, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

, and the United States.

Types of projects

* Housing: Aura’s House originally started with a housing project and has continued to raise funds for those in need of shelter or repairs to their homes. * Food, Supplies and Repairs: Aura’s House has raised funds to help provide families with a variety of household needs items such as beds, mattresses, blankets, furniture, clothing, and food supplies. * Education: Aura’s House has raised money on behalf of several schools and sponsored individual children so that they may attend school or continue their education. In addition, they have helped raise funds for school supplies such as books, desks, uniforms, and laboratory equipment for science courses. * Health: Some examples of these types of projects include the construction of a water well for a village in India as well as projects that raise funds for medicine and food supplies for individual families. * Income Generating Projects: These projects provide families with the means to generate income on their own.

Affiliates

Aura's House is affiliated with

, a Kansas City,

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

based

501(c)(3) non-profit organization A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 5 ...

dedicated to bettering the lives of impoverished children which connects individual sponsors with children living in poverty. Aura’s House started working with Children International in 2003. Officials from

oversee the implementation of all projects once the money is raised, as well as choose recipients for certain projects. Today they continue to work together with Aura's House raising funds that are then distributed via Children International to the specified projects. Children International also provides Aura’s House with photos and updates to Aura’s House projects both past and present. In addition to Children International, Aura’s House has also worked with Kenya Kids in Need, a

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

501(c)(3) organization dedicated to the Galilee School as well as Child Focus Fund, an

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

501(c)(3) organization that helped with the Ghana Project.

Fundraising

Aura’s House relies on grassroots methods for raising money. It is an organization that is run exclusively by volunteers and because of this, 100% of donations go directly to their projects. All donations are 100% US Tax Deductible and go directly to Children International.{{cite web , title=About Us {{! Aura's House , url=http://aurashouse.com/about/ , website=aurashouse.com , access-date=2011-08-07 , archive-date=2011-08-08 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110808170953/http://aurashouse.com/about/ , url-status=live

References

External links

Aura's HouseChildren InternationalKenya Kids in Need/Plant-a-Book InternationalChild Focus Fund
Children's charities based in the United States Community building Development charities based in the United States Educational charities based in the United States Internet-based activism