The Pumpkin House for Children Project Advisory Committee carried out an informal study in early 2002 to determine if there is a justification for establishing a new orphanage in the Meherabad area. While excellent facilities exist in the Ahmednagar and Pune metropolitan areas, the need for placements is growing rapidly. For example, at a single hospital in Ahmednagar, three to four newborn infants are abandoned or orphaned each month.

There is a definite unmet need for a new orphanage, especially a family-style facility in a rural setting that serves all age groups and offers access to nearby educational and medical care services.

The advisory committee's vision for Pumpkin House Orphanage would be an attractive structure built in a modular fashion, with living facilities added as funding availability and client demand dictate. At the home, different age groups of children would live together, as in a family.

The orphanage's location near the Meher Pilgrim Center is likely to provide it with a pool of volunteers and make it more accessible to a wide range of potential adoptive parents from throughout India and other countries.

Among the service facilities close to the orphanage are the Meher English School in Meherabad, which has been established for many years and is a popular choice with families of children in nearby villages. The school has raised academic standards and achievement, and it encourages all students to take vocational training. Other educational facilities are available in Ahmednagar, including higher education institutions.

Residents of the Pumpkin House for Children would also have access to an established health center, which offers a professionally staffed medical clinic and hospital facility on a regular basis as well as a dental clinic available on a twice-yearly basis.