When you count some 150 odd families in a community who need support as the pandemic wears them down you get dizzy for you start to wonder how you will you raise funds to provide for the poor.
This was the challenge that the community at a Catholic church in Abiramapuram faced some weeks ago.
Then, the St. Vincent de Paul Society unit of this church – Our Lady of Visitation Church on St. Mary’s Road, got to work. They reached out first to the well-off in the parish zone and then tapped well-wishers outside, even non-Christians.
Today, the families who have been badly hit by the pandemic get their monthly ration of rice, dhall, oil, sugar and some spices- this may not be enough to keep them going the 30 days but many appreciate the donation.
“Ours is a poor parish,” says Mangalraj, a prominent church leader and De Paul member who runs an automobile workshop close-by. “But somehow we have managed to raise funds to support the families.”
Besides, the church pays the medicines bill of the poor, which may average as much as Rs.30,000 a month.
“We have a parish priest who saves up money and does not like wasteful expenses and so we are able to support the poor,” says Mangalraj.
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