It is with great sadness that we must now let you know that we have taken the difficult decision to close Lotus Flower Trust as of the 31st December this year. 

Meet Bharti Saini, the inspiration behind the JSR Special School Uttarakhand, funded by William Grant & Sons Inc, Delhi Duty Free and many other generous sponsors. John talks to her in this uplifting video about life at JSR and training to be an artist at Art School in Nanital.

It's so gratifying to see our projects literally and metaphorically bearing fruit! Seeing water being piped to Basgo Nunnery in remote Ladakh after more than 10 years without any, is nothing short of miraculous. Thanks to funds raised through last year's #everestchallenge2021, a bespoke water system has now been installed on site which means more than 50 nuns and destitute girls are now fully self-sufficient…

The new Hostel, toilet and washing facilities at The Garden of Wisdom School close to Shushakul Monastery in Ladakh are coming on a treat and weather permitting will be completed by the end of the year. Thanks to a private sponsor, this will enable more destitute children, including girls, to live and study at the school…

Fantastic to see the second floor taking shape and new toilet block underway at the Paravour School for Dalit children in Tamil Nadu, built with funds raised by Lotus Flower Trust.

This means that 57 new children have already enrolled at the school, bringing the total number up to 132 and continuing to increase, enabling more children to break the cycle of poverty in this extremely deprived area…

To celebrate #SmallCharitiesWeek, we thought we would tell you about just some of the benefits of supporting small…

Bigger isn’t always better!

Small charities are specialists, working in a particular field, in our case addressing poverty, education, special needs and conservation.

This means we’re experts in what we do and because we’re a small team we can respond quickly without getting bogged down with all the bureaucracy and politics of larger organisations…

We are so delighted to share these images of the recently completed kitchen and dining room at the hostel for girls attending Nyoma Middle School in the remote Changthang Plain of Ladakh. This project was generously funded by TFWA Care. Toilets and washing facilities were also donated by the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council.

A quick update on the new extension at Shri Ram Vidyamandir Inter College in Almora, Uttrakhand... Generously funded by Delhi Duty Free, local labourers have been busy building 4 additional classrooms and improved bathrooms, now nearly completed.

The children at Chaudhary Kanya Higher Secondary School in Moradabad are working hard, despite work going on to make safe and refurbish their school. To make these desperately needed improvements and help more than 600 children receive a deserving education, funds were raised by Lotus Flower Trust from the #everestchallenge2021 and other generous supporters.

Ten members of the People's Action Group Of Inclusion and Rights - PAGIR were recently selected to participate in the upcoming Cerebral Palsy Sports Federation of India's National Athletics Championship in New Delhi.

Many congratulations to Chemat Angmo who went on to win two gold medals in both the Shot Put and the 100 metre race. What a superstar!

Like everyone, we are very concerned for our European friends in Ukraine, who of course take priority in all of our minds. It's such a difficult time for so many reasons but here at Lotus Flower Trust HQ we continue to work as hard as ever to focus on our goal to help change lives forever. Despite the knock on effects of Covid, 189 fundraising applications have recently been sent out and 29 more are to be completed online.

Stanzin Chuskit inspires us all at Lotus Flower Trust...

In this video, our wonderful friend expresses thanks to representatives from Motivation India who recently delivered and fitted 30 bespoke wheelchairs, funded by Lotus Flower Trust, to users of the Pagir Centre in Leh, Ladakh.

Happy New Year to You! We have started 2022 with some great news. Delhi Duty Free, our main funder in India, has funded the construction of extra classrooms, new toilets and washrooms for Shri Ram Vidyamandir Inter College in Dotiyalgaon, Almora - a school in desperate need in the beautiful foothills of the Himalayas.

Getting water isn't as easy as turning on a tap if you live in the Himalayas...

Natural ice glaciers, a vital water source to many villages, are rapidly receding due to climate change, leaving many thousands of people without water. Lotus Flower Trust is helping to restore water to villages in Ladakh by funding materials to create Artificial Glaciers

Here's the clip of John being interviewed on The Russell Howard Hour on Sky Max... enjoy!

Don't miss Lotus Flower Trust's CEO & Founder John Hunt on The Russell Howard Hour on Sky Max at 10pm this Thursday (tomorrow).

John will appear in the Good Deeds section close to the end of the programme which supports unique individuals doing amazing things for people and projects in need.

Out of every acorn grows a tree...

Wonderful to see these recent images of Ram Trith Kanya Vidyalaya Girls Residential School originally built and completed by Lotus Flower Trust thanks to funds from TFWA Care back in 2015.

"Just because there is no destination in sight doesn't mean the road is not worth travelling." (Chinese Proverb)

A big thank you from John to all those who travelled with him, virtually speaking, on his #everestchallenge2021 journey.

Guess who's on the front page this week...?!

Thank you Forest & Salisbury Journal for supporting our #northcol21 & #everestchallenge2021.

Fantastic to see work now going ahead on two new Artificial Glaciers, restoring water lost due to global warming to Lamayuru and Zomal villages in Ladakh, thanks to funds raised by Lotus Flower Trust.

A lovely video of the boys at Winchester College documenting their #northcol21 Mallory Challenge from start to finish...

John's epic 30,000 ft virtual climb to Everest is now complete! No mean feat when you are more than 80! Congratulations John! Friday, 24th September, was also 100 years on from Mallory's journey to the North Col and to mark this, more than 500 boys from Winchester College ran a collective total of 4,400 km…

Check out John’s BBC interview about the #everestchallenge2021 on the Alun Newman Breakfast show on BBC Radio Solent.

21,000 ft and counting!

Please continue to share and support 80 year old John on his uphill journey to raise funds for children and communities without water in India for Lotus Flower Trust.

oday we launch Lotus Flower Trust and Winchester College's Mallory North Col and Everest Challenge to raise funds for 3 projects in India…

This amazing drone footage of the Chaudhary Kanya Higher Secondary School in Mankua Village, Moradabad, shows what terrible conditions more than 600 children endure as they attempt to gain an education to break the cycle of poverty.

All our schools, including those in Ladakh, have been closed until further notice due to the second wave of Covid in India. We have been in touch with our colleagues in India and many have friends and family who are ill. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of India at this time as they struggle with this terrible virus.

This video shows just how remote some of the places we work in are! Here you can see local Ladakhi builders passing 90 cement and sand bags across the mighty Indus River using a cable trolley, also known as 'The Flying Fox'.