<p>A loving home for every child Press Release</p><p>SOS Children's Villages of India celebrates its Founder’s Day</p><p>SOS International Day celebrated across the world</p><p>New Delhi, 23 June 2012: SOS Children's Villages today celebrated its Founder Dr. Hermann Gmeiner’s birthday with much fanfare. An international NGO working actively for the last 60 years in providing secure and loving homes for orphaned and abandoned children, SOS is the brainchild of Dr. Hermann Gmeiner, an Austrian, who pioneered the concept of bringing up orphans not just in a regular orphanage, but giving them the security and quality care of a proper home, the love and care of a "Mother" and a framework of sibling relationships providing them emotional security for a lifetime. </p><p>Speaking on the occasion, Dr.Rakesh Jinsi, Secretary General, SOS Children’s Villages of India said, “At SOSCVI we have strived hard to keep up the principles handed down to us from Dr. Hermann Gmeiner. His unparalled work has been always been a source of inspiration for us which drives our endeavours of providing every abandoned child a home.”</p><p>With a large global presence in over 132 countries, a typical SOS Village consists of a gated community of 15-20 homes with a "Mother" in each home nurturing a group of 8-10 children, who live together as brothers and sisters. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was responsible in bringing SOSCV to India and the first village at Greenfields (Faridabad) was set up on land grants facilitated by Mrs. Indira Gandhi. </p><p>SOS Children’s Villages is the largest and the only self-implementing NGO, not just in India, but in the whole world, and Dr Hermann Meinner's birthday is celebrated the world over as SOS International Day. The children of SOS villages have a small celebration within their villages with cultural programmes. The celebration witnesses the participation of about 100- 150 people including the children, employees, individual and the corporate donor community.</p><p>About SOS Children’s Villages of India: </p><p>SOS Children’s Villages of India is a non-government, voluntary organization, committed to the care of children in need. The aim & objective of the SOS Children’s Villages of India is to help children in need by giving them a family, a home and a strong foundation for an independent and secure life. Since its inception in 1964, SOS Children’s of India India has expanded its services for children in need at a rapid pace. Today, there are 33 SOS Children’s Villages including the new projects under establishment and 122 allied projects like Kindergartens, Schools, Social, Medical, Vocational Training Centres and Outreach Initiatives spread across the country reaching out to many thousands of children. SOS-India is a member of SOS-Kinderdorf International, operational in 132 countries. For more information please visit website www.soscvindia.org</p><p>For more information, please contact:</p><p>Shreshtha Kumar, Asif Alam Mazumder Communicators India M: 9873077438, 9582041352</p>