In Memory of Francesco: Aiding Families in India

On October 21, 2021, we lost our beloved Francesco. He was the light of my life and treasured by his entire family.

In honor of Francesco’s 18th birthday (January 28, 2022), Linda and I are focusing our immeasurable grief on our growing mission to help vulnerable families in the South of India, where Linda lived for nearly a decade, as part of our new Francesco Tamma: Love in Action effort. Will you join us? Together, we can pay tribute to Francesco by making a meaningful difference.

 

With your help, we will fund the “Holy Cow” project with the Prabhat Rural Development Society (PRDS), a fully-registered NGO in Puttaparthi. This project will provide cows—and a path to survival—to a group of 25 at-risk women in the rural village of Jagarajupalli. Many of these women have been widowed or abused—leaving them without an income. The milk produced and sold from these cows will nourish their families and empower the collective to support themselves, their children, and their community. Our dear friend Angela, who worked in the past with Mother Teresa, lives in the area and will be helping to administer the program locally.

Francesco had a deep and tender love for animals, so we know he would be very touched to see the transformative impact a cow can have on so many in need.

 

For many years now, Linda and I have been proud supporters of PRDS, which works to improve the lives of the rural poor with an emphasis on lifting up women and children. Francesco was very aware of our involvement and was moved by the stories he heard about life in the local villages.

 

Since Francesco’s passing, and in his name, we have galvanized friends and family to enable PRDS to provide school staples, COVID-19 relief parcels, and emergency supplies to literally hundreds of children and families impacted by the pandemic and recent floods. (See the beautiful photo of students in front of a banner for Francesco.) Linda and I are also sponsoring Ganesh, an amazing fifteen-year-old boy with whom we are in direct contact, by funding his living expenses and his upcoming college education. (If you have an interest in sponsoring a child yourself, please reach out to me directly for more info.)

 

But there’s so much more we want to do. Francesco is teaching us that life is not counted by the years you live but by the love you give. So, in honor of his 18th birthday, we are pouring our broken hearts into the Francesco Tamma: Love in Action “Holy Cow” initiative. And we hope you will, too.

 

Thank you for all your love. And thank you for supporting our work in India. It’s one of the things that's keeping us going.

Annamaria