HOW IT ALL STARTED

Donald Fernandes, a 45 year old sales executive by profession travelled in Goa by road a lot. In the course of this travel, he saw and met many poor & emancipated people on the streets begging for food and water.

These scenes troubled him a lot and stirred a fire within to do something to help them. He shared his dream with his wife Dorothy and they prayed to God to help make it happen.

Difficulties abounded in their lives, but they still clung to this dream.

In the year 2013 they felt compelled to provide food to the poor in their vicinity and thus began this journey.

He and his wife Dorothy, began cooking out of their own kitchen for a group of 50 poor people living in their vicinity and distributing this food to them before he left for work.

The plight of the poor continued to haunt him.

In the year 2015 he bought an Ambulance to ferry the poor to hospitals.

Donald realised that the poor had no access to fresh clean drinking water specially in the hot summer months when water is scarce.

In the year 2016 he installed a tap in his compound which offered filtered well water freely to the under privileged.

During the summer months people living on the streets suffer from paucity of water.

Donald opened his well to them, permitting them to take as much water as they required.

He also transported water to people living on the streets in various towns and cities in Goa.

Sensing the dire need for clean drinking water he installed a water tank in his modified vehicle. He parked the vehicle in areas inhabited by the underprivileged and gave them fresh drinking water.

2017 was a very important year for STREET PROVIDENCE. The first Food Bank was started by Donald at his home.

He used social media to get local people, Hotels, Factories, Canteens and Wedding Halls to donate excess food. The response was overwhelming and in a short span of time STREET PROVIDENCE installed 40 freezers all over Goa and 3 in Karnataka and 1 in Maharashtra.