14.6.25. 5pm IST
STREET PROVIDENCE blessed & innaugrated our 15th Shelter home in INDIA on 13.6.25 at Kankavali, Sindhudurg District, Maharashtra, which also the Feast day of St Anthony.
There is also a legal cell SAMET run by Fr Manuel Dsilva in this premises.
( This is the 2nd home in Maharashtra ).
This home is Named as ” Bishop Allwyn Barreto Shelter Home” & its only for men with disabilities.
And the home was blessed by Bishop Allwyn Barreto himself at a simple function held.
This home is OLD Bishop house which was not used for a long time as there is a new Bishop House at OROS.
Seldom will any Bishop give a house to be used for the poorest of the poor.
But Smiling Bishop Allwyn Barreto as he is known has a heart for the poor and needy.
Present for this function was :
♡ Bishop Allwyn Barreto,
♡ Administrator of Sindhudurg Diocese Fr Andrew D'Mello;
♡ Fr Manuel Dsilva, Director of SAMET, Legal Services clinic,
♡ Fr Millet, Parish priest of Sawantwadi,
♡ Sir Bosco George, retd DIG , ( IPS )
♡ Mr Ramesh Ghadi , Writer & Poet,
♡ Mr Sapnesh Salgaonkar, our operation manager,
♡ Mr Arturo Dsouza, our Maintenance manager,
♡ Priests and nuns and staff of Street Providence.
Since the building was unused for a long time may be a few years , there was a lot of repairs & Maintenance to be done.
And if you see the link, all the work has been done by our Resident men from our shelter homes under the supervision of Arturo Dsouza.
For one full month everyday day manpower was moved from Goa to Kankavli to get this place up and running.
Arturo himself with the men residents completed all the electrical & plumbing works.
Entire Painting of the building was completed by one resident Mr Khan who used to be homeless for years but a painter by profession.
Our 500 ltrs solar was installed by Bunty Bhaskar from Muddavaddo Saligao.
A big metal shade over 1 part of the home was fabricated by my our regular and reliable fabricator Mr Anand ( babu ) from Sangolda, op lighting club.
This home has CCTV of 16 cameras which was completed by Digital Doctors Porvorim, Mr Siddesh.
Overall we cut our costs by 50% by employing our own shelter home men on most of the manual jobs.
This home can hold 50 men at any point of time but 40 men will be the ideal capacity.
We also have a 12 bedded home for ladies in Sawantwadi which was blessed on 28th Sept 24 by Bishop Allwyn Barreto.
Lots of poor Maharashtrian men on the streets of Goa and we in Goa don't take in any non goans due to genuine issues which we face in our homes in Goa.
This mens home will serve as a transit home to send back to their villages if any Maharashtrian found living on the streets of Goa.
This decision is a call to be taken by Hon CM of Goa and the administration.
We have created a facility looking long term but its up to the GOA state to send these non goans living on the streets back to their respective states.
This mens home at Kankavali can also serve the 125 bed mental hospital in Rstnagiri as there is no mens half way home in Ratnagiri for men suffering from mental disabilities who require care once discharged from the mental hospital.
This mens home is fully equipped with :
☆ 3 kv inverter
☆ Cctv
☆ Cable TV
☆ Fridge
☆ Bunker Beds
☆ Full fledged kitchen.
One thought always crops up in minds when such facilities are started. Guess which one ?
Well at Street Providence we take care & rehabilitate people of all religions irrespective of caste & creed.
We must be the only NGO across India having residents of all faiths be it Muslims , Hindus , Catholics, Tribals, etc.
70% of our staff are Hindus,
20% are Catholics and
10 % are tribals and
no religious activities are conducted in any of our homes at all.
We have staff from Goa , Maharashtra, Jharkhand & Manipur on our roll.
The entire operation in Goa & Maharashtra is managed by Mr Sapnesh Salgaonkar & very soon, Maharashtra operations will be handled by Digamber Ghadi fully as he speaks Marathi fluently.
We celebrate all festivals of all religions with special meals on that day but no prayers , religious heads or any religious activities are permitted in our Homes.
Simultaneously we have installed in all our Homes 200+ CCTV cameras which run 24*7 in our control room as well as on the mobile of
Mr Sapnesh & myself.
Close to Rs 30 lacs has been invested on CCTVs in the last 3 years.
For me its about service to the poorest of the poor especially those with mental disabilities and abandoned on the streets of Goa.
We thank all who have supported our work in the last 8 years and counting.
All communications strictly through whatsapp messages only on 8380097564
God bless you all
Donald Fernandes
8380097564 / 7020314848