WOLFVILLE, N.S. — It can be easy to get caught up in the excitement of summer and lose track of the bigger picture.
After a day at the lake or a trip to the ice cream parlour, one of the last things on our minds is charity work. It’s important to take a moment every once in a while to make an impact in someone’s life. Marilyn Manzer, a volunteer with Development Association for Research and Empowerment (DARE), says the fun doesn’t have to stop to make a difference.
On July 25 at the Acadia University Chapel, Manzer will hold a fundraiser for the Railway Children of India. The event is in support the work of Father Abhi, a Catholic priest who is committed to rehabilitating Indian children who are lost and alone in India’s train and railway stations. Since DARE was established in 2010, Fr. AhbI has helped rescue more than 300 children.
Manzer says of Dr. Abhi: “He’s set up a large shelter home that currently houses 30 girls who also get the chance to go to school. He raises funds to send boys to school too, but they go to boarding schools.
“In addition to the many services they provide, they send rescue teams to railway stations to look for children who are lost or in distress. A lot of the work they do is finding the families of the lost children. It’s easy to get lost in India and it’s a lot harder to reunite children with their families.”
The upcoming local fundraiser is for Fr. Abhi’s project “in India of rescuing children who are trying to make a living at the railway stations,” says Manzer. “These are children who basically have no options in life and are living in really horrible slums or in the streets. Without programs like this, they get badly exploited. I got to see this first hand when I went to India in 2017.”
Fr. Abhi met Manzer when he came to Nova Scotia in 1994. Manzer says that when he comes back to Nova Scotia it’s generally to raise more funds for his projects.
Manzer recalls, “When I first got to know Fr. Abhi personally … he told me that it only costs $20 in Canadian dollars to send a girl child in India to school for an entire year, and that so many children still couldn’t afford that, which shocked me quite a bit.”
Fr. Abhi has done a number of different projects to better lives for women and children. The Women of Wolfville have supported his work with fundraising efforts.
The fundraiser will begin with a potluck supper at 5 p.m., giving guests a good opportunity to chat with Fr. Abhi before his presentation. During dinner, Manzer’s daughter Sahara Jane will sell Indian scarves, shawls, and jewelry she’s picked up while studying music in India. All the proceeds from her sales will support Fr. Abhi’s project.
Afterwards, Fr. Abhi will do his presentation and take questions from the crowd. He will discuss the many services he and his staff provide for the children of India, such as reading and writing classes, tuition for school, medical assistance, and shelter. The evening will finish with a concert by Sahara Jane and her partner Ken Shorley, who have both been studying Indian music. They will perform some of their Indian-inspired music at 7:30 p.m.
