Among its programs, the fund provides training to village women so they can help provide for their families.CRYSTLE MAZUREK
The gift: Creating the India Village Poverty Relief Fund
The reason: To fund educational and employment programs in India
When Crystle Mazurek was two years old, her family headed to a village in India's Punjab region, where her parents taught English as Anglican Church missionaries.
The Mazureks returned to Canada about six years later, but Ms. Mazurek, now 53, never forgot the experience. "I fell in love with India," she recalled from her home in Brockville, Ont., where she is an elementary school teacher.
She returned to the country in 2001, visiting the village where her parents taught. Many people remembered her. "They told me, 'Please don't forget us again, '" she said.
The visit prompted Ms. Mazurek to launch the India Village Poverty Relief Fund, a Canadian charity that focused at first on providing latrines and school supplies in the village. Over the years, the organization has expanded and provided scholarships to nearly 600 students, offered training programs to teach women how to sew and organized health services for villagers in need.
Ms. Mazurek and volunteers raise about $40,000 annually to fund the charity and she spends about one month every year in the village where she spent part of her childhood.
"It's extremely satisfying," she said, adding that her children help out with the charity. "It give me a reason in life. It gives me a purpose."
Paul Waldie