Helping Point was founded by Bidyuta Singh in 2001 in the state of Odisha and has since grown to serve multiple communities across both the Indian areas of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.

 

Helping Point continues to be directed primarily by Bidyuta and his wife Deepa, although they now employ over 45 staff members. This is Bidyuta’s story:

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At the age of 23, Bidyuta had just completed higher education in Economics, and was looking forward to all the potential opportunities that life as an educated man in India might provide. As with many of our lives, this worked out different than he had hoped. While helping a friend on a farm, Bidyuta was caught in a terrible accident that left him in the hospital for months, unlikely to ever walk again. That first night in a rural, under-equipped hospital, with his faithful Christian mother sleeping at his bedside, Bidyuta had what he can only describe as a vision of being able to walk again. Bidyuta woke his mother, who believed it to be a sign from God. As he recounts the story he says “I promised God that if He would grant it that I should walk again, I would walk only to do His work.” Throughout the following months, Bidyuta began the slow and painful path to recovery, and was able to return to full mobility. He has since dedicated his life to doing Gods' work.

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After some time at a large organisation in Delhi, in 2001, Bidyuta, along with four other people from local villages, started to serve the area he had grown up in, a largely neglected area of India. The public education system had failed to provide adequate education, limiting the potential of many of these children and contributing to the persisting cycle of poverty. They founded Community Centres where children could receive support with their studies. By mentoring these children and providing them with free education and tutoring, Bidyuta and his colleagues began to develop relationships with families in the area. These relationships with the community are foundational to how Helping Point operates.

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Helping Point’s reputation of care and educational empowerment has resulted in an expansion of Community Centres across the area. In 2002, Helping Point wanted to serve the rural community by providing official education for children who may otherwise not receive schooling at all. St. Simon’s English School was established to meet this need. Most of the children are not required to pay tuition, allowing Helping Point to reach out to the poorest members of the surrounding communities. The children are taught English as well as other subjects in a loving and supportive environment. Since opening St. Simon's School, Helping Point continues to grow, establishing new projects in the most rural and remote villages in India, training new staff members to teach and care for their neighbours, and displaying love through teaching and charitable service. 

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Helping Point built a home for orphans, which is now a well established children's' home, proving a safe space, education (through the state system) as well as cammeradery, friendship, family.