Press Release February 3, 2005
Thank You ! Thank You ! Thank You !
Poster
Donation Information
6 St. Joseph House

"Paynter Home" Website

Associated Story


“Friends of Paynter Home” launched ! !  !

The Paynter Home orphanage in the mountains of Nuwara, Eliya,
SRI LANKA, will shortly be receiving 50 new children from the coastal regions. A group of us here in Toronto joined forces with 6 St. Joseph House on February 6, for a fundraiser to support the rebuilding of their lives.

We tried to keep it simple! The plan was to gather a few friends and colleagues at the earliest available time, to hear about Kay and Brian’s work at the Paynter Home (Kay’s father founded the orphanage), and begin to raise $7000 to build them a new kitchen and develop a sponsorship network here.

It was a fundraiser we won’t soon forget – in fact, it may become a yearly tradition! Just as the Chinese community prepared to celebrate Chinese New Year (The Year of the Rooster), the Christian faith communities were preparing to begin the solemn season of Lent, which ushers in 40 days of restraint…along with prayer, fasting and almsgiving. (It was also Superbowl Sunday.) Not the least bit disconcerted by this “feasting and fasting” dilemma, we tried to make the most of it – we made it a VEGETARIAN event, with good vegetarian food, good music and conversation for a good cause.

Simple but happy! It was a joyful event, evoking a “heart of gladness” – to be with people who care, and who contributed in so many ways to make this somewhat hastily organized gathering a very special event.

The shock and awe of the tsunami disaster in Asia has begun to subside. As the catastrophic remnants of homes, towns and villages are assessed, it is now crucial to mobilize the people who will lead the rebuilding and reconstruction. Not just of infrastructure, but of human restoration – comforting and befriending the traumatized and guiding them to recover their lives and livelihood.

This slide show of the “Friends of Paynter Home” launch, is PHASE 2 of our “New Kitchen and Sponsorship Network” objective, for which we raised over $1000, and are continuing to gather friends. PLEASE HELP US BUILD ON THAT !!! We invite you to be a part of this project and to make a pledge… but don’t stop there. Send this on to other friends who may be in a position to help, and who would want to be a part of this if they knew about it. Only you know who those people might be.

“God gives the desolate a home to live in.” Psalm 68:6