A DARWEN woman who spent time with homeless children in India is hoping people will help her raise at least £1,000 towards the cost of their care.

Pat Monks, 52, first heard of the El Shaddi charity for homeless children, in Goa, when she visited the country on holiday with her husband.

Each time she has been to Goa since, she has visited the deprived children and taken donations of clothes and cash.

Her aim this year is to go back in December, on her sixth visit, with at least £1,000 to put towards a night shelter in one of the towns.

In order to raise the cash she plans to hold a cake stall at Darwen Gala but the main fundraiser will be a sponsored litter-pick in Darwen.

She said: "There was a lady from the south of England who was on holiday in India about six or seven years ago and she saw all these children hanging about on the streets homeless. Later that day she met a local pastor and they got chatting about the need for something for the children and they ended up setting up the charity together.

"They now have a house for boys, one for girls and another house for younger children. They educate them and put a roof over their heads and now that some of them are getting older they are also looking at ways of finding them some sort of work.

"But they rely on people on holiday to bring them clothes and donations. We saw a leaflet about the charity and went to see them. The children are very well cared for and happy and the charity is doing brilliant work.

"Seeing the ill and homeless children sticks in your heart and you think we have so much and they have so little. We want to help them in any way we can."

Pat is still in the planning stages of the sponsored litter pick-up but hopes people will contact her and show their support for the idea.

She said: "The litter pick would be done on chosen streets in Darwen and the idea is to get people to get themselves sponsored to do a couple of hours of cleaning on an evening in June or on a Saturday afternoon.

"We will also be asking people to make a bid if they want their street to be chosen to be tidied up. I want to raise about £1,000 if possible which would possibly go to a night shelter in one of the towns where there is a big need for it. Children without a roof over there head can wander in to it at night and know they have somewhere to go."

The charity started off looking after 25 children. Last year this had increase to 250 children and this year it has gone up again to more than 300 children.

Anyone interested in getting involved in the litter-pick or donating money should contact Pat on 01254 775358.