One Wedding and a Flood of Donations
Kevin & Judith
Judith McEniery, an Australian Palliative Medicine specialist from Ipswich, Queensland visited palliative care services in South India during 2009. In 2010 she came to Trivandrum for a brief time and became aware of Pallium India and the work supported by the Trust.
In January 2011, Dr McEniery and Mr Kevin Prout, a business analyst with MBF Health Fund, were to be married; overcoming the Queensland floods(!) in the process: “Love triumphs in flooded Ipswich”.
In lieu of the usual gift giving, they asked their wedding guests to support the work of Pallium India with a monetary donation. Judith spoke briefly of Pallium at their reception and said:
“It is a small but practical way that we can share and promote the development of much-needed Palliative Care services in India. I have felt a strong pull towards a connection with India for many years, and with Pallium, this has come to reality.
Kevin and I are delighted the money can be used to help patients directly, and indirectly through teaching and advocacy. We look forward to hearing of progress.”
On the 21st of April, Pallium India received the proceeds – a cheque for more than 1-lakh Rupees (~$2500), along with a personal donation from Judith and Kevin of more than Rs. 40,000.
In India especially in Kerala where lakhs and lakhs of money spent for the sake of celebrating marriages the example set by Judith and Kevin is a model to be appreciated and of course to be adopted by our people. For this I would prefer the initiative to come from the persons getting married rather than at the instance of anybody else, which will shower blessings on their married life.
Thank you for your comment and encouragement to others. Pallium India has started their “Share to Care” idea with a variety of events in mind, not just weddings.
We hope many will benefit from this practice and agree it needs to come from the couple themselves. Also it is important to note that for many couples it may not be appropriate to forfeit gifts important in “setting up” their home together. We were fortunate in not needing this assistance. Best wishes!