OUR HISTORY

Hope and Joy Foundation was created in 2001 inspired by the spiritual principles of Mother Teresa of Calcutta and is characterized by its commitment to the disadvantaged people in vulnerable situations. Without distinction of origin, creed, ethnicity, culture, race or gender, we try to transform poverty into self-sufficiency, promoting sustainable development and expanding opportunities for the beneficiaries of our projects.
Maria Moreno, president of Hope and Joy Foundation, volunteered in different organizations working on various projects from a young age. This, and the good fortune to meet Mother Teresa of Calcutta, inspires and encourages Maria to continue a great humanitarian work for years, initiating projects, even before creating the Foundation.

Brother Gaston Dayanand, friend of Mother Teresa, has dedicated his life for more than 50 years helping the disadvantaged people in Calcutta, his work is reflected in the work of Dominique Lapierre, made into a film, “The City of Joy”. It was in 2000 when the Brother Gaston sent a letter to Maria explaining the deadly floods that were taking place in the Ganges Delta and despair finding himself alone collecting the victims of the river, mostly belonging to the caste of Dalits ( or “untouchables”), because nobody wanted to get involved in the recovery of bodies.

This difficult situation made Maria Moreno create the Hope and Joy Foundation, inspired by the principles of Mother Teresa and directed to the attention of the most disadvantaged groups. At first we support various projects in India, like: the Asha Bhavan Centre for the care of children with disabilities, microcredit programs for the empowerment of women, a floating hospital for the distribution of medication in the Ganges Delta, or campaigns for the prevention and treatment of different diseases such as leprosy or tuberculosis.

Gradually, we were launching our own projects and our action spread to Southeast India and other countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Also we helped in situations of natural disasters such as the tsunami in Southeast Asia or the earthquakes in Haiti and Nepal. In recent years, we have been concentrating our efforts on a smaller number of countries, with the aim of being more effective and efficient, trying to make our impact as large as possible. In this manner and given our track record, experience and relationship with local partners, our best efforts are concentrated in India, mainly in the state of Tamil Nadu. We also carry out projects in Spain, supporting families at risk of social exclusion.

The Hope and Joy Foundation is registered in nº 28/1.199 en la Subdirección General de Fundaciones del Ministerio de Asuntos Sociales since 25 of May with CIF G-83014233