The New Ark Mission of India, also called Home of Hope, was founded in 1997 and is an outstanding example of Christian compassion to the destitute and dying of Bangalore. The mission rescues abandoned and often terminally ill people off the streets and brings them to its facilities where they are cared for and rehabilitated where this is at all possible. Even the police, who find such people and do not know what to do with them, regularly bring them to New Ark, knowing that no one will be turned away.
This is a holistic ministry that seeks to meet the many and varied personal and spiritual needs of those who come through its doors. Over the past 20 years or so New Ark has rescued almost 20,000 people, of whom approximately 50% have been able to die in peace and with dignity in the care of the project. In recent years the number of people living in the project has significantly increased to the point where there are now around 600 adults and 100 children being cared for daily. There are separate facilities for men, women and children, including a recently constructed women’s facility and there is a dedicated hospital and pharmacy facility providing medical support. There are vocational facilities which support the work of rehabilitation. Each member of the community receives three meals per day and despite only a small amount of regular giving there has not been a day when all the people did not receive their meals. A key dimension of the vision of the project is to rehabilitate as many people as possible back into the mainstream of society and this is regularly happening. The project has received awards from the government for its contribution to the common good, but they provide no finance. The project is run by donations from sympathetic supporters.
