I recently received an email from a friend back in India where he shared with me his vision for helping Anglo-Indians. Needless to say, PepperWater at it's core is all about giving back to the Anglo-Indian community and helping Anglo-Indians. This story got my attention and PepperWater had to do an interview with Calvin Dee and Steve Periera - the two guys who refuse to call themselves "the founders" because the term has no heart. They are simply to guys who saw a need in the community and decided to do something about it.

If you feel like you'd like to be a part of what they are doing and contribute either with your time, your resources/services or monetarily please see the contact info below.

Donate to Share and Care online on Pepperwater.com.

Watch an interview or you can read it below the video.

PW: Who are the founders of Share and Care?
Calvin:  I guess you could "technically" call us founders, but we would like to think of ourselves as just two guys who along with other friends have a heart to help people who need a helping hand in life. We both studied and grew up together and work on different projects "apart from our regular jobs"  one of them is the "We Share and Care" project to help people in India.

What made you start We Share and Care?
Steve:  Initially we were both helping organizations and people individually and one day during a casual conversation, we spoke about how we were helping  different groups of people individually through our financial contributions but we were not involved directly. We realized that we were not completely  satisfied just donating but wanted to get actively involved in helping people and that’s how We Share and Care got started. So, we decided to join forces and not only give financial assistance but to also be personally involved in helping people.

How long has Share and Care been in operation?
Calvin: We officially started Share and Care towards the end of 2009. We reached out to family and friends and asked them if they wanted to help. We initially planned to help around 25 to 30 people but due to the generous gifts from  family and friends we ended up helping close to a 160 people.

Tell us about some of the things you do at Share and Care? What are your plans for Share and Care?
Steve: Our primary goal is to help Anglo Indian Community who are in need. We also want to keep reaching out to orphans, disabled kids, people in old age homes and maybe later on help people who need medical assistance and care. The other thing we would like to do is get young people involved with our project, so that they can contribute and help us to reach out to a lot more people.

How can we Anglo's get involved either locally or remotely? Are you looking for volunteers locally? Support remotely?
Calvin: Let’s address the local question.
We DEFINITELY need a lot more volunteers locally to help us plan our campaigns and then actually go out and get it done. For example, as we grow it would really be helpful if someone can volunteer to take care of the accounts. We also need to plan a minimum of two months in advance before we go out and conduct these events. So generally we meet on the weekends and it also gives people a time to get together and brainstorm on who and how we can help effectively.

Now for the remote support:
Steve: We know that there have been loads of Anglo Indians who have migrated abroad but might still want to contribute and help their community/ some of the people in India.  However, they do not have a way of being sure that the funds they send will be utilized correctly. That’s where we come in…we make sure that the funds are being spent correctly and most effectively and that the truly needy people get helped. So if there’s anyone who wants to contribute on a monthly basis or send one time gifts, then they can get in touch with us.

Tell us about the last event you organized. How much you collected and what you did for who etc...
Calvin: In December 2009 we decided to help 3 different groups of people
We collected 85, 456 INR  and we had people contribute toys, clothes and transport as well.

1. We helped 6 Anglo Indian families that’s more than 24 people in all and provided them with some basic essentials such as Rice, Oil, Flour, Chicken, Cakes, Clothes and a cash gift.
2. We reached out to 68 people in an old age home in Adyar, Chennai and shared the Christmas spirit with them. Most of the people at the old age home had no family to care for them and were really happy to see a group of youngsters visit them, sing carols and spend quality time with them. We hosted a Christmas lunch (we ended up having lunch with them as well ) and then gave them a hamper that had in it toiletries, milk power, nutrition drinks, clothes,  cakes and a cash gift.
3. Steve: We reached out to a boy’s home in Otteri, Chennai where there were over 55 boys from 5 years to 15 years of age. We had an amazing time as a group of volunteers (consisting of family and friends) got together and brought them into the Christmas spirit along with Santa Claus and some great carol singing in both Tamil and English. We gave them a Christmas lunch and individual gifts which consisted of toys based on their age group, cakes and snacks. We helped the home by providing them with what they were in need of  (floor mats, bed sheets, raincoats).  We also gave shirts and sarees to the caretakers of the home.

We really want to say thanks to the EVERYONE who has contributed financially to We Share and Care. We also wanted to say a special thank you to people who volunteered their time and efforts such as
Kevin Periera & Family, Judy Popaly, Creswell Periera, Shinolin Samuel & Family, Kitty Fernandez & Family, Aunty Manju & Twila, Salome Dee & Family, Elizabeth Dee & Family, Andrew  John, Mario Rebello, Clive Lewis, Ashwini, Carolyn Dee. (If we missed out anyone’s name – apologies but we are extremely grateful for everyone’s help and support)

Tell us about the next "event" that’s happening and what are the immediate needs for that event?
Calvin: Our next project is to help a bunch of kids with their education. School will be starting in a couple of months, and we want to take care of the educational needs of children who cannot afford it. Some of the basic things which we require for these kids would be School Bags, notebooks, water bottles, pencil boxes, lunch boxes and cash gifts to help out on the tuition fees.

Contact Share and Care
Steve
Phone: +91 9980162448
e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Calvin
Phone: +91 9940137191
e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Facebook Group: We Share and Care
www.weshareandcare.com