The Golden Goa Association, Southampton (GGAS) donates home appliances worth Rs 1,00,500 to Lar De Santa Terezinha, a girl’s orphanage and shelter home at Pajifond-Margao in Goa.
LONDON
A Goan association in Southampton has earned widespread praise for reaching out to different charities in Goa for nearly 10 years.
The Golden Goa Association, Southampton (GGAS) began as a voluntary organisation of the Goan community in Southampton on September 8, 2010.
“After organising community events that raised significant amounts for local charities, the association decided that it was time to raise funds for charitable causes in Goa,” explained RJ Roque Vaz, a founder member of the GGAS.
“Right from its very inception, GGAS was one of a handful of trailblazer Goan community groups in the United Kingdom, which openly displayed its accounts on social media platforms and laid a great deal of emphasis on total clarity, discipline, transparency and accountability in maintaining its accounts till date.”
“GGAS made it clear that its donors and sponsors would contribute towards the staging of community events via bank transfer. It was this salient feature which facilitated the creation of surplus funds, which GGAS decided to donate to quite a few charities in Goa.”
During a nine-year period, Roque said the GGAS has raised a total of £ 4763 (British Pounds) amounting to Rs 4,71,855 for four different charitable institutions located in Colva, Rivona, Gogol and Margao on seven different occasions.
“The GGAS would like to thank all committee members, sponsors and volunteers, not just from Southampton but from across the United Kingdom, who have worked laboriously over the years to organise wonderful community events, raising all the monies for various charitable causes in Goa.”
2015
An amount of £ 450 was raised by GGAS at the St Francis Xavier feast celebrated on December 6, 2015, which was donated to Sister Valentina’s Little Heaven orphanage located in Colva, Salcete, Goa, at a simple ceremony which was attended by GGAS President Dr Tracy Coelho. It is an orphanage run by Sr Valentina Mascarenhas since several years.
2016
An amount of £ 671 was collected at the St Francis Xavier feast celebrated on December 4, 2016, which was pledged to Nitya Seva Niketan at Rivona-Quepem in Goa, a residential care home run by the Society of the Helpers of Mary for abandoned and destitute children and women affected with HIV/AIDS since 2004.
This amount was handed over to Sister Gladys D’Souza, Superior of Nitya Seva Niketan and Sister Rita by the GGAS Cultural Secretary Sam Santimano, General Secretary RJ Roque Vaz, founder member Bihula Vaz and Vice President Sanida Fernandes on the occasion of Goa’s Liberation Day.
2017
At same celebration of the same feast in Southampton, a sum of £ 732 was secured on December 3, 2017 in Southampton and handed over to Sister Prerna of Nitya Seva Niketan by GGAS Vice President Sanida Fernandes on December 29, 2017.
2018
GGAS resolved to grant an amount of £ 450 to Daddy’s Home Charitable Trust, a non-profit organisation that focuses on providing a safe, secure and empowering home for differently-abled children and elderly in Goa, which is located at Gogol-Margao, Goa. The fund was raised during the GGAS’s annual celebration of St Francis Xavier’s feast in Southampton on December 2, 2018.
The amount was handed over to Fr Valmiki Dias, founder of Daddy’s Home by GGAS President RJ Roque Vaz in January 2019.
2019
The association contributed £ 760 to Daddy’s Home once again and the money was collected during the St Francis Xavier feast celebration in Southampton on December 1, 2019.
As the world was gripped by the Covid pandemic and as international travel was not permitted, the above amount equivalent to Rs 76,000 was handed to Fr Valmiki Dias on April 4, 2022 by GGAS President Roque Vaz in the presence of seafarer Larry Viegas, local businessman Abhijit Volvoikar, Bihula Vaz and Grina Pereira, who travelled to Goa after international air travel resumed without any restrictions.
2023
GGAS Vice President Maria Assumpta Borges suggested a fundraising effort for Lar De Santa Terezinha, a girl’s orphanage and shelter home dedicated to the service of the poor and marginalised women at Pajifond-Margao in Goa.
A file photo of Golden Goa Association, Southampton, UK, members presenting a cheque for Rs 73,941 in aid of Lar De Santa Terezinha, Pajifond-Margao in 2023. (From L to R): Then GGAS President RJ Roque Vaz, Sr Theresa Pereira, Fr Marlon Rodrigues (Carmelite Monastery), GGAS Founder Member Bihula Vaz and Manager of Lar De Santa Terezinha Edel D’Silva.
During the 13th feast of St Francis Xavier in Southampton on December 2, 2023, an amount of £ 700 was raised and donated to the Lar De Santa Terezinha in the form of a cheque of Rs 73,941 by GGAS President RJ Roque Vaz to Fr Marlon Rodrigues of Carmelite Monastery, who runs the orphanage, in the presence of RJ Bihula Vaz, Sr Theresa Pereira and Manager of the Home Edel D’Silva on December 26, 2023.
2024
The GGAS broke all previous fundraising records by raising an amount of £ 1,000 for Lar De Santa Terezinha at the same annual community event and in the same hall in Southampton on November 30.
New GGAS President Sebastian Savio D’Costa, who is currently on holiday in India, visited Goa and purchased a deep freezer, a smart TV, two microwave ovens, a wet grinder and a cooking range with a total value of Rs 1,00,500.
“These items were the urgent need of the hour as per the suggestion of the Home’s manager Edel D’Silva. The remaining amount of Rs 5,920 was donated via cheque to Carmelite Monastery,” said Roque Vaz.
