PANAJI
The St Michael’s Parish Youth at Orlim recently distributed food and clothes to the poor and needy in Margao.
Orlim Parish Priest Fr Roger (Raju) Godinho said the project to distribute clothes came about while the parish youth had an outreach programme to distribute food to the poor on the streets of Margao city during the Christmas season.
“As food was being distributed, the poor asked us if we had clothes to give them,” said Fr Godinho.
“We discovered a lot of people on the streets. This visit to the poor on the streets led us to collect clothes from the people of Orlim, to distribute them to the poor.”
Having collected a large number of clothes, Fr Godinho said the parish youth then distributed clothes to the poor children, men and women on the streets of Margao on February 25 between 7 and 9 pm.
“The aim of this outreach was to give the youth a better understanding of the poor people and to know that there are a lot of needy people out there,” explained Fr Godinho.
“The outreach was also to inculcate in them the virtue of charity. Besides, Pope Francis in his “Frutelli Tuti” has spoken about the “Culture of Waste”. We wanted to bring to the notice of the young not to waste anything especially clothes as there are always needy people who can benefit from our extra clothes.”
Fr Godinho said the youth experienced the struggles of the poor compared to the comfortable lives they have been living and expressed their willingness to have more outreach programmes in future.
