The Assisi Charitable Foundation in Kerela, India.

The Assisi Charitable Foundation was set up by Mary McCormac following a visit to Kerala, India to recruit nurses for the Tara Winthrop Nursing Home at Swords.

Mary McCormack and Joe Harford with generous supporters of the Assisi Charitable Foundation who were welcomed to Tara Winthrop by Mayor of Fingal Kieran Dennison

The visit to India coincided with the aftermath of the Tsunami of December 2004 and as a result the coastal areas of Kerala were devastated and extreme poverty was very visible. Since it was set up the Assisi Charitable Foundation has built an orphanage, a school, a desalination plant, three small clothing facilities employing approximately 75 people and an umbrella making business employing 100 rural ladies.

Their clothing factories which are called Veranda Fashions, in addition to being self -financing, also provide clothing for the poor children at Christmas and uniforms for their school at Onam. The foundation provides food parcels at Christmas and during the Onam festival. This is the Hindu harvest festival where it is a tradition to give to the poor.

Mayor of Fingal Kieran Dennison with staff from Kerala at Tara Winthrop

A generous donor from Kerela was so impressed by the work of the foundation that he recently gifted a 5 acre site for a nursing home there. With volunteer help the building project will begin in early 2015 to establish a 60 bed nursing home on the site. All funds raised goes into the charity and there are no administration costs whatsoever.