Humrahi Foundation and Support Wings

Every children's home in Siliguri should have a library.

Humrahi Foundation and Support Wings want a library in every children's home in Siliguri. Several homes have already said yes. Not one library is built yet, and that is what this page is asking for.

This is a joint project of Humrahi Foundation and Support Wings. Humrahi is a registered non-profit in Matigara, Siliguri, with 80G and 12A, so donations are receipted through Humrahi and Support Wings takes none of the money.

Give money

Fund the shelves

Books get donated. Shelving, transport and repairs have to be paid for, and that is where this stalls without cash.

Donate
Give books

Send us books

Have books already? Here is what we can use, and what we cannot. Drop them at either Siliguri address, or courier them.

What we accept
Give time

Volunteer

Sorting, cataloguing, reading sessions, and keeping a library alive after the opening week.

Register
Children writing on mats at a Humrahi school adoption session in Siliguri. This is not a children's home and not a library: no library has been built yet.
Humrahi's school adoption work in Siliguri. We have no photograph of a children's home library because none has been built yet.

Where this stands today

You should know what you are giving to before you give it.

  • One library reaches at least 100 children. That is the size of a single home here.
  • We intend to fit three homes. How many we actually reach depends on what the book drives and this appeal bring in, so we are not promising three.
  • Not one library is built. No shelf is up, no book has been handed over, and no child has borrowed anything.
  • Nothing has been spent. This appeal opened on 23 September 2026.
  • When we start, we will publish what was bought, what it cost, and which home received it, the same way we report every other project.
  • If we have not started by 22 November 2026, we will say so here and refund any donation on request. Email a@myhumrahi.org and we return it, no questions asked.
Why a library

A children's home gives a child a bed. It rarely gives them a bookshelf.

The homes we have been into are not short of care. They are short of the ordinary things a child in a family home takes for granted, and one of those is something to read that nobody set as homework.

A library is cheap and it stays. Volunteers come and go, festivals get celebrated and end, but a shelf of books that belongs to the children is still there next winter. It is one of the few things you can put into a home once and have it keep working.

We are not claiming this fixes anything larger. It puts books where there are none, and it gives our volunteers a reason to keep turning up at the same place instead of visiting once a year.

Children sitting on mats with a storybook propped against a whiteboard, at a Support Wings Shiksha Sabka Haq session. This is not Siliguri and not a children's home library.
Support Wings' Shiksha Sabka Haq sessions. One book, propped against a whiteboard, is roughly the whole library. Photograph: Support Wings.
Humrahi volunteers with children gathered under a shelter in Siliguri. This is not a children's home and not a library.
The children Humrahi already sees every week in Siliguri.
Children sitting with notebooks at a Humrahi school session in Siliguri. This is not a children's home and not a library.
Notebooks, on a mat, outdoors. A shelf indoors is the part that is missing.
A joint project

One project, run by two organisations.

A Humrahi volunteer with children outside a primary school in Siliguri. This is a school Humrahi already works with, not a children's home.
Humrahi at an adopted school in Siliguri.

Humrahi Foundation

Humrahi started in Siliguri with a daily food distribution that ran for 1,500 days straight before it ended. What grew out of it is still here: free skilling as a partner institute of the Skills Development Network, school adoption, health camps, waste management, and relief work in Assam, Nepal and Bihar. Humrahi holds the money on this project and issues the 80G receipts, so it is Humrahi that answers for what gets spent.

Support Wings
Support Wings volunteers in costume with a large group of children during a Little Smiles visit. This is not Siliguri and not a library.
Support Wings on a Little Smiles visit. Photograph: Support Wings.

Support Wings

Support Wings is a youth-run movement founded by Tanishq Agrawal in Yavatmal, Maharashtra, and run entirely by people between 14 and 24. Support Wings reports volunteers across more than 70 cities (supportwings.org.in). Two of its existing programmes meet on this project: Little Smiles, which puts volunteers alongside children in orphanages, and Shiksha Sabka Haq, its education outreach.

How we work together

This project belongs to both organisations equally. Support Wings volunteers were already spending time in these homes, which is how the missing shelf got noticed at all, and they bring the people and the relationships inside the homes. Humrahi funds the work, buys the things and runs the Siliguri collection points. We plan the homes together and we will report on them together. The one part that is not shared is the money: every rupee is received, receipted and accounted for by Humrahi, because Humrahi carries the 80G registration. Support Wings takes nothing from this appeal.

Donate books

What we can use, and what we cannot.

A collection point that fills up with the wrong books costs us more to clear out than it gave us in the first place, so please read both lists before you pack anything.

Please do send

  • Picture books and early readers, in Bengali, Hindi, English or Nepali
  • Story books and novels for ages five to eighteen
  • Comics, graphic novels, folk tales and mythology
  • Atlases, dictionaries, general knowledge and activity books
  • Anything published in roughly the last fifteen years that is intact and readable

Please do not send

  • School textbooks and competitive exam guides. These children already have those. We are collecting the reading they do not have.
  • Encyclopaedia sets and old reference volumes
  • Magazines, newspapers and catalogues
  • Books with missing pages, water damage, mould or heavy marking
  • Adult fiction, or anything you would not hand to a nine-year-old

Matigara

Humrahi Foundation
Parameshwar Niwas, Gudiya Jote
Near Himul Milk Factory, Khaprel Road
Post Nimai, Matigara
Siliguri, West Bengal 734010
Monday to Saturday, 9am to 7pm

Bhanu Nagar

Humrahi Foundation
4th Floor, Beekay Centrio
Beside Payel Cinema, Ward 44
More, Bhanu Nagar
Siliguri, West Bengal 734001
Monday to Saturday, 9am to 7pm

Talk to Juhi before you come

Juhi coordinates book collection. Call or message her on +91 91019 39189 and she will tell you which of the two addresses is easier that week, and make sure somebody is expecting you.

Both addresses open Monday to Saturday, 9am to 7pm. Courier is fine to either one.

WhatsApp Juhi
Donate money

Books arrive free. The shelves they sit on have to be bought.

Shelving and a lockable cupboard for each home, transport from the collection points, lamination and repair, and replacing what gets worn out by being read.

Money goes on repair and cover materials, transport and handling, shelving for a home, and fitting out a full reading corner.

Donate

You choose the amount on the next screen. The categories above say what the money is spent on. They are not a price per child. Nobody has costed a child's reading, and we would rather say that than invent a figure. Every gift is receipted and eligible for 80G. Gifts to this appeal are reported separately from our general donations. See how we report money.

Volunteer

Sorting, cataloguing, and reading with the children.

Register once and you go straight onto Humrahi's volunteer roster. You need to be 18 or older to sign up. If you are younger, run a book collection at your school or college and message us on WhatsApp, which is genuinely more useful to us than one more pair of hands on a Sunday.

Register as a volunteer

Questions

Does Support Wings receive any of the money?

No. It is a joint project, but the money side sits with Humrahi alone: Humrahi receives, receipts and spends every rupee, because Humrahi holds the 80G registration. Support Wings contributes volunteers, access to the homes and the day-to-day running.

Can I send books by courier?

Yes, to either Siliguri address above. Message Juhi on +91 91019 39189 first so somebody is expecting the parcel.

Do you accept school textbooks?

No. Textbooks and exam guides are the one kind of book these children already have. We are collecting the reading they do not have.

Which homes are these?

We are not publishing the list while the agreements are still being settled. Once a library is installed we will name the home in our reporting, with its permission.

What happens if the libraries are not built?

We will say so on this page and refund any donation on request. Email a@myhumrahi.org. The appeal opened on 23 September 2026, so that undertaking runs to 22 November 2026.

Can I give in kind instead of money?

Yes. Shelving, storage cupboards, reading mats and lighting are all useful. Message us before buying anything so we can tell you what a home actually needs.