(Trumbull, CT: January 31st, 2018): Joining in the many efforts to support the victims and their families of Cyclone OCKHI in the southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, MAsCONN, the premier organization representing the Malayalees in the state of Connecticut organized a fund raiser and offered financial assistance to the families of those whose lives have been devastated after the Cyclone Ockhi in November last year.
Several members of the MASCONN Board of Directors were part of the team that donated $1,000 towards the OCKHI relief Fun on January 27th to Ajay Ghosh, representing Enthurai, which was organizing a campaign across North America towards the education of the children whose parents lost their lives due to Cyclone Ockhi.
Wilson Pottackal, President of MASCON thanked the MASCONN-Kids Club, whose members had initiated a fund -raiser with raffles to collect money for the Cyclone OCKHI Relief Fund to support the victims and their families in the southern district, Kanyakumary in Tamil Nadu, India.
Ockhi, a severe cyclone that passed through the Arabian peninsula in Kanyakumari district and southern Kerala in India on November 29th and 30th, 2017, had shattered several traditional fishing villages and causing loss of lives and properties in the coastal region with high devastating intensity.
According to officials and rescue workers/teams who are engaged in emergency relief work in these marginalized and poor villages, an estimated number of more than 6,030 fishermen were directly affected by the cyclone. Among them, 70 fishermen in Kerala and 108 men in Kanyakumari district, who had gone to deep sea fishing in traditional and mechanized small boats, have not returned home even after over two months, deeming them to have lost their lives to the furious cyclone.
The devastation of destruction caused to fishing vessels and gear along with the historically high loss of life and property, has left thousands of fishermen and their families in these villages, whose only livelihood has been fishing for centuries, into starvation. And, many of these families, having lost their only bread-winner, have been left to face starvation, in addition to having to grieve for their beloved ones to mother sea.
Enthurai, an IRS recognized non-profit group, consisting of members in the US, but hailing from some of these coastal villages, are appealing to help them help these families, who have lost their dear ones, and most often, the only bread winner of the family, to cyclone Ockhi.
Your generous contributions will go a long way in bringing food to the table of these families who are on the verge of starvation after losing their dear ones in the cyclone in the ocean. Your contributions will be 100% used to help and support the families of the victims in the coastal fishing villages in southern India.
“MASCONN an offshoot of the natural growth of the Indian-American especially Malayalee Community in the southern Connecticut region,” said, in his welcome address. Declaring that the 10th year of the formation of the Association has many good surprises for the members, Wilson stated, “In a very short period of 10 years, we have grown by leaps and bounds and we strive to meet the growing needs of our community.” He pointed to the many new initiatives the organization has spearheaded successfully in the past decade.
MASCONN is a non-political, non-religious forum to strengthen Malayalee culture and tradition and to give special emphasis to the development of the new generation of expatriate Malayalees. For the younger generation, MASCONN passes on the cultural heritage, tradition, the rarely cherished legacy and values while they are integrating into the American culture. For more information on MASCONN, please do visit. www.masconn.org