Charity hand overs ‘Baiju Appeal’ fund of £ 22150.00 at funeral service on 7th March in London
Charity received an overwhelming response from U.K malayalees by raising a total amount of £ 22747.50 out of which £ 21407.50 came through viriginmoney including gift aid and rest of £1340.00 directly into charity’s bank a/c. As always virginmoneygiving’s 3.5% commission of £ 610.00 deducted from this total and added another £ 12.50 from general fund to make the total figure to the tune of £ 22150.00. An amount of £ 3975.50 has been added as gift aid highlighting the importance of sending the donations through viriginmoney giving. The family of late Baiju had already decided to arrange the funeral in England itself thereby avoiding the repatriation of remains and as such, the charity issued a separate cheque for £ 5762.00 as per Nisha’s (Baiju’s wife) request. The rest of the amount was divided equally between the two children ( £ 8194.00 each) to be deposited into the bank as FDR to be matured at them reaching the age of 18. This decision was taken unanimously by charity as per the advice/instructions from charity’s well-wishers and was agreed by Nisha.
Late Baiju’s (Thomas Joseph) funeral was conducted on 7th March at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Lee, London with a Holy Mass, which was attended by Mar. Joseph Srampickal, bishop of Great Britain Syro Malabar diocesewho led the sacramental rites. The parish preist Fr. Hans Puthiyakulangara invited charity representatives i.e. Chairman Tomichan Kozhuvanal & Secretary Cimy George on the dais in appreciation of the good Samaritan works done by the charity to the needy and poor in the society. Chairaman, Tomichan Kozhuvanal explained the audience about the distribution of the funds to the family. Bishop March. Joseph Srampickal handed over the cheques to the children on behalf of the charity. Many people from the social walks of life attended the ceremony including KCWA Welfare officer Mr. Mangalavadan, who took efforts to facilitate the funeral expenses in a reasonable rate.
Baiju died untimely due to illness at Catford, London on 14th February 2018. He is survived by his wife and two young children and hail from Keezhoor, Thalayolaparambu, Kottayam district in Kerala. The family was already struggling financially due to the employment/visa expenses and job changes. Apart from this, his wife’s employer’s sponsorship license was suspended even though she has the working visa until further 1 ½ years. They had to borrow an amount of £ 9000.00 from friends in the recent past to organise and pay for the renewal of their employment/family visa.
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