HARDWICK – The 17th Annual Hardwick Child Haven’s Indian Dinner and Sari Fashion Show at Hazen Union school, November 1 and 2, raised $13,000, wrote Wheelock’s Robin Cappuccino, a board member of Child Haven International/India, last week.
photo by Vanessa Fournier
Calling the event a huge success, he said the event will help “our 1,300 formerly destitute children in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.”
Cappuccino said the sold-out event featured “an amazing meal cooked under the cheerful supervision of Evan Karp and his huge team of cooks and cleaners. People universally comment on how calm and relaxed the kitchen is under Evan’s leadership, but then when you remember that Evan’s other hat is a forest-firefighting helmet, you can understand how unperturbed he might be about a pot starting to scorch a little.”
Deborah and Walker Hartt helped dress “everyone from our graceful Fashion Show models to the entire cafeteria in beautiful saris!” said Cappuccino.
Donating to and helping with the gathering were The Genny, Buffalo Mountain Market, Pete’s Greens, Harvest Hill Farm, Full Circle Farm, Sweet Rowen Farmstead, Riverside Farm, Wild Acres and others “who provided the exquisite ingredients for this year’s menu,” he said.
A myriad of generous donors offered their wares for the silent auction, “which did incredibly well as always,” said Cappucino.
The event allowed Child Haven “to confirm our support for our third Kaliyampoondi nursing student’s education through our Rachel Davey Memorial Fund. S. Divya is now in her final year and excited to complete her studies soon to join our previous two graduates as a nurse.”
“I was on a call about a new 600-foot-deep well we just drilled at our Gujarat Home thanks to a mild earth tremor that destroyed our previous well,” said Cappuccino last Thursday. “We also spoke about a new borewell at our Bangladesh Home needed there because the municipality is not able to meet our water needs most days of the week.
“I was on a call several days ago with an organic vegetable farmer we are hiring to initiate a one-acre garden at our new expanded home outside of Hyderabad.
“All these things are vital, important and expensive, and just a few recent reasons your support is most deeply appreciated.”
In closing Cappuccino wrote, “Together we are demonstrating the power of active love and compassion so critically important in these times when bellicose billionaires would have us believe that they alone deserve ever-more obscene amounts of our earth’s fragile and finite resources. Together we can uplift each other and those in our communities, both here and overseas, in need of our solidarity and support.”
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
