Ian Huntley

DIRECTOR

I have been actively involved in the building of I Have A Voice Orphans’ Choir since late 2017, when I met the founder, Martha Tellez.

Martha passionately told me the story of how she had been unable to have the children she so much wanted, so looked to sponsoring a child through a well known charity. As she progressed with her story, I could only think of one word to describe it…”inspirational !.”

She rapidly felt there must be a better way - the answer: providing choirs to children in orphanages or from other areas of disadvantage.

Today, instead of sponsoring just one child through a photograph, she provides a brilliant service to more than 150 children and regularly visits!!!!

Today I am Martha’s business partner in this wonderful charity, and I actively work with her to help build it. My late wife, Patricia, had died after a long illness in early 2017 and had developed a significant portfolio of charities which we donate to each year. She would have loved Martha’s concept to initially provide the choir service to orphanages in her home country of Mexico and then expand to Australia and other countries. Pat and I had both travelled to Mexico twice before her death.

I began my career as a journalist and specialised in financial journalism. In 1973 Pat and I started our own business, in particular an investment newsletter, Your Money Weekly, which was sold for a significant sum to Morningstar Inc of the US in 2007. During the course of my career I became a long term investor – not trader – in excellent companies. 

I brought to Martha the help of my business contacts and friends together with a deep personal knowledge of starting a small business…very much akin to starting a charity. With one major difference. With a business you focus on bringing more money in. With a charity, you do the opposite! You focus on getting more money out and raising the funds by donations.

Early on I travelled to Mexico to meet Martha’s family, and of course to visit the first home/orphanage to welcome her choir concept. I found the 100 year old Casa de Jesus absolutely amazingly well run, I met the children participating in the choir, talked to them to see how much they enjoyed the singing with their foster brothers and sisters/orphans, all one family together. I realised just how impressed the nuns running their Casa Hogar (foster home) were with the choir. “It is good for their souls,” said Sister Patricia. We visited several more, and met the wonderful people Martha has engaged to run the choirs – Elizabeth …and the then small number of choir masters. All wonderful, wonderful people.

I guess you could say I had done my due diligence as an investor and had seen for myself how much the kids loved it, and just as importantly, how impressed with the concept were the orphanages themselves! And the choirmasters!!!

So it is easy to understand how I became a significant donor each year with those donations to continue as per my will after my death. And also why I have been happy to use the marketing and other skills learned in four decades of business to help build Martha’s dream!

She is definitely the boss, the leader, the organiser of her dream project!