My Dear Friends,

 With my heart overwhelmed with joy and confidence in God, I would like to introduce our 26^th  annual fund-raising campaign.

With a great pleasure I’d like to invite you to look at the recent message of gratitude form Fr Pedro Opeka and one of the representative of this God blessed community of Akamasoa we are privileged to help :

Thanks to God, as for the past 25 years, already from 1^st of January we began our fundraising journey. It is our expectation, that this year 2024, together our generous sharing will reach the Jesus suffering in the poor, providing help for the education of (now around 20,000) orphans and abandoned children at Akamasoa).

Our fourth High Tea organised by Nives Care attracted 55 people of good heart to her home where participants enjoyed culinary delights in abundance. 

Attendees generously contributed $5,300 to our 26^th fundraising campaign for the education of  20,000 orphans and abandoned children at Akamasoa.

This achievement was made possible by the amazing trio ‘in action’: Nives Care, Rosa-Maria Lia and Maria Perugini… who enthusiastically prepared Nives’ home, placing and decorating tables to welcome the participants and  arranging lots of precious items from Nives’ collection of porcelain and variety of Swarovski crystals for sale.

Francesca Chow joined us with an offering of  delicious organic marmalade made by her from the fruits of her Kentlyn garden.

Sinisita Filitoga took on the collection of donations at the entrance to the premises…

People started arriving  at 11:30 am and by 12 noon the party began with goodwill and serenity in the air!  

At 1:30 pm after the culinary feast, Bruna Candiloro (Nives’ sister) entered into action, first with the auction of a variety of valuable items, then the drawing of tombola and afterwards the lucky door prizes.  By 3 pm when the  place became calm again, the brave trio  entered in action to put the venue in order, cherishing nice souvenirs of the feeling  of ‘Mission accomplished’!!!  DEO GRATIAS!

CHARITY DINNER

Society post-‘Covid-19’, has been negatively affected in many different ways, not only at personal level, but also in terms of community dimensions…

Thus, our first ‘post-covid’ event last year (25^th SFRCC fund-raising), was a test for the degree of response to that appeal, and it proved that the goodness of many didn’t faint in the clouds of new challenging difficulties, with support very alive and strong!

We thought to return to All Saints Parish at Liverpool, but after 22 years of our yearly Charity activities there, we learnt that it was time to move… elsewhere…

Good Lord, in His Mercy, open the door at St Joseph’s Como-Oyster Bay Parish, where my brother, Fr Jerzy (PP), ‘rescued’ us from wandering around in search for new ‘welcoming’ venue!
20,000 orphans and abandoned children of Akamasoa, in need of assistance, was given again, the hope of the generosity of humankind flowing towards them. (Lk 2:7…?)

Long-standing preparations for our 26^th Charity Dinner occurred for many months before our recent successful event:

*Invitations extended to potential VIPs
*Organising tombola prizes with a printing and ‘distribution’ of its 10,000 tickets

Jeannette Beaudoin, looking for an opportunity of getting some suitable items to add to the hall and tables decorations as well as preparing ‘lucky door’ prizes some donated and some offered by herself and completing full tables’ set up.

‘Wrap-up before the Great Evening

On Friday 18 October the committee members and other bighearted volunteers began to arrive at the Como Parish Hall, welcomed by Fr Jerzy.

Jeannette Beaudoin, with 13 years of experience, once again was responsible for the preparation of the hall. She was wonderfully assisted by Vince Albertti; Michael Bosnjak; Sinisita Filitoga; Andrew, Louisa & Katrina Jelavic and Carl & Susan Pavia; Nives Care, Rosamaria Lia and Maria Perugini joined us after they had finished their kitchen preparation for the big event.

On the tables, one bottle of red wine and a bottle of sparkling water per table were offered by ‘Lamonica IGA Supermarket’ from Haberfield. Bottles of red and white wine at VIP table were given by ‘Valore Cellars’ from Carramar.

A most attractive table was covered by the variety of Polish chocolate products generously donated by Wojciech Serafin from ‘Wawel Import Export’ at Hill Top, with an organic honey donated by Bernard Fortin and row organic one, offered by ‘Roma Pizza Restaurant’ at South Hurstville. Next to it, on the joined table, there were six beautifully decorated pillow coverts donated by Anna Chaplińska.

By 9pm, that evening, the hall was ready to welcome 130 dinner attendees for the 26^th Charity Dinner of SFRCC.

Saturday 19^th October, Charity Dinner Day       

That morning at 11am Jeannette Beaudoin came to finalise the tables decoration, bringing beautiful flowers, generously donated by ‘A&L Florist’ from Bossley Park.

At 2pm, Carl and Susan Pavia were at Mascot airport to welcome our guest of honour, His Excellency Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Charles Balvo, who was gladly received by my brother, Fr Jerzy at Como-Oyster Bay Parish presbytery.

Around 4pm our committee members began to arrive with food already prepared to be served at the dinner with other to be delivered soon.

Nives Care, Rosamaria Lia and Maria Perugini, brought schnitzels, potato salad, rice salad, peas with bacon and green salad for 120 people.  Maria Tomei and Rosa Cardoso provided 60 large portions of their home-made lasagne, cooked just before the dinner at Nives Care place. Sinisita Filitoga, brought in delicious charcoal chicken and souvlaki from ‘Kings Charcoal Chicken’ in Campbelltown with small bottles of flat water generously offered by her for the dinner.

Marina Jean-Baptiste, though temporarily residing in Nouméa (New Caledonia) organised two kinds of Thai delicacies: chicken green and yellow curry (60 portions) delivered by her daughter Hélène.  Jeannette Beaudoin provided fruits for fruit platters prepared by Nives, Rosamaria and Maria.

Francesca Chow, with a help of her longstanding friends of our endeavour, Sharon and John McDevitt, Lily Oon and Peter and Malika De Zilva, installed next to the Polish sweets and jars of honey, her impressive variety of her home-made marmalade from her garden’s fruits, beautiful flowers and varieties of plants in pots with some handicrafts and biscotti.
With Lily Oo, they brought some very nice Malaysian/Indonesian speciality called rendang with rice.

At the entrance, Sr Telesia Talalua and Dina Iunius issued receipts for donations.

125 people expressed interest, but miraculously we were finally accommodating around 150.

Form 5 pm, Mr Ross Maio, the accordionist maestro (sponsored by Nives), after assuring a good acoustical ambience, began his wonderful accompaniment of our event with melodies for ‘all seasons’…

At 6pm, champagne began to flow form the generosity of ‘Valore Cellars’ accompanied by delicious canapés and petits-fours provided by ‘Ganache Patisserie’ at Castlecrag.

Earl Lappen, our MC for the event, at 7pm opened our dinner welcoming His Excellency Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Charles Balvo, Honorary General Consul of Madagascar Mr Anthony Knox and Mrs Suzanne Knox, National Director of the Catholic Mission Fr Brian Lucas and Fr Jerzy Chrzczonowicz, PP at Como-Oyster Bay St Joseph’s Parish.
His Excellency Apostolic Nuncio, after expressing his joy of being part of our Charity Dinner, bestowed his blessing upon the food and our gathering and the 26^th Charity Dinner begun!

God’s blessed abundance of exquisite food and heartfelt hard work of dedicated kitchen staff, offered to all the present that evening, satisfaction to their expectations of quality and enjoyment of being blessed and to share this blessing, through our support in the education of thousands of our adopted children at Akamasoa in Madagascar!

Then, was the moment of my joyful expression of appreciation and gratitude to all, who attended this event, among them many who for the last over 25 years faithfully supported our activities.

Fr Lucas took opportunity to express his appreciation for our endeavour linking it to the activities of Catholic Mission, which that weekend was dedicated to, in all over Australia.

After this, everybody was attentively watching to the moving message form Fr Pedro surrounded by thousands of children and teenagers. He mentioned the current financial difficulties regarding the schooling, the rights of children to education and work accompanied by faith. Finally, Fr Pedro thanked us for our longstanding aid followed by the moving acclamation of children, who in French and in English were exclaiming: ‘Merci (Thank you) Sydney! Thank you very much Sydney!’ Our charity event was preceding their celebration of 35 years of foundation of Akamasoa on Sunday 20^th of October. 

After some time dedicated to our passionate dancers, a deep silence take over the place, because the drawing of our tombola began, done by Mrs Suzanne Knox. She was assisted by our MC and Sinisita Filitoga, the secretary of our association.

With great joy I have honor to announce the winners of this year’s tombola, heartfeltly thanking our sponsor for their continuous generosity in providing these precious items:

1. Bowerhaus* triple strand of both white baroque & round pearls necklace with diamanté baroque pearls earrings, valuded at $3000.00 – donated by Elizabeth Lee won by ticket number: 3846
2. 3 pairs of Bowerhaus baroque pearl enhancer valued at $750.00– donated by Elizabeth Lee won by ticket number: 0623
3. Voucher $500.00 from Myer – donated by Nadia Fortuné, won by ticket number: 9624
4. Coles Gift Card valued $500.00 donated by ‘C’est Si Bon’ patisserie at Rose Bay, won by ticket number: 3851
5.  1 Bottle of Chivas Regal 4.5 Lt valued at $499 from «Valore Cellars», won by ticket number: 3586
6. Gourmet hamper valued at $280.00 from «Providorium», won by ticket number: 1538
7. Gift Basket valued at $250.00 from «GJ Food», won by ticket number: 6931   
8. Gift basket valued at $100.00 donated by Sybra & Harry Hunt, won by ticket number: 7982
9. Gift basket valued at $100.00 donated by Sybra & Harry Hunt, won by ticket number: 1355
10. Voucher valued at $100.00 (2x$50) donated by «Ganache Pâtisserie Française» at Castlecrag, won by ticket number: 6887

It was followed by joyful acclamations, when every time someone form the participants was winning one of many the lucky door prizes, kindly donated by Jeannette Beaudoin, Bernard & Michele Fortin and Laurent & Nadia Schwartz.

Anna Chaplińska, donated for auction two very beautifully designed from sand and rice, two faith inspiring pictures by the Vietnamese artist, enriched our fund-raising event.

Our participants have had a pleasant fun, when I tried to ‘warm up’ my accordionist’s forgotten abilities, thank God, ‘rescued’ by our Maestro, with his top performance covering my shy right hand wandering through the keyboard, which gained very generous applause of joyfully impressed attendees!

At the end of our celebration, marked by very delicious dessert (generously offered by Nadia and Laurent Schwarz and Lucas and Patricia Fogante-Abrahamowicz form ‘Confiteria El Sol’) accompanied by a tea/coffee, lot of volunteers joined our committee members in returning the place to its original state of tidiness.

Finally, I’d like to recognise the wonderful spirit of generosity and support to our charity event by Rosa Cardoso, Sinisita Filitoga and Piero Murgida, who offered means of transport from Campbelltown and Smithfield aeras for those who could not drive at night these distances. May the Good Lord bless them for their magnanimity of heart!

During the year, we very sadly farewelled Mrs Giuseppina Galluzzo, an exceptional benefactor of Akamasoa. For many years, this kind lady gave most generously to support the education of our adopted children in Madagascar. Mrs Galluzzo sold 3,500 raffle tickets among her family, relatives, and friends, and then bought unsold tickets herself!
May the Good Lord reward her LOVE with the company of Saints in Heaven!
May She Rest in Peace!

Thanks God, we reached our target of over $100,000 in support to the education of more than 20,000 adopted orphans and abandoned children at Akamasoa!

This is the final status of our 26th fund-raising, to the Glory of God and the help we provide to the holistic education of our beautiful adopted children at Akamasoa:

Auction………….. 400.00
Donations:….94,099.00
High Tea……….5,300.00
Tombola………19,040.00
Sales: ……………..7,652.00
TOTAL:………..126,491.00

May the Good Lord help us to continue in strengthening our generosity, in our gratefulness for His blessings bestowed upon us and our families and friends !

Yours grateful in Christ: Fr Jan

On 9^th January 2025, our association (SFRCC) transferred $88,091.00  to the account of Akamasoa. The rest will be forwarded by Catholic Mission later on.

Dear Friends of Akamasoa,

The beauty of solidarity with thousands of our adopted Akamasoa Family members, with over 17000 orphans and abandoned children, is awaking us to thank our Good Lord for inspiring the People of Good Will with generosity of heart in order to continue into 2023 with serenity and perseverance with our saintly endeavor of sharing God’s goodness with Jesus suffering in them.

Enjoying this beautiful “Alleluia” performance during Easter celebration at Akamasoa under Fr Pedro’s leadership, we can have a look at the progress of our 25th fundraising event:

The past two years of all kind of sudden restrictions and tragic experiences nationwide, and given some uncertainty regarding the next future, it was impossible to plan the gathering for over hundred participants …
Nevertheless, to mark 25^th anniversary of our charitable association, Good Lord provided us with hospitality of Mrs Nives Care, who generously opened the door of her family home (33 Church St, Blakehurst), proposing to hold two events:

1. HIGH TEA

At noon on 19^th August a  High Tea event was held to share God’s blessings with our thousands of adopted orphans and abandoned children at Akamasoa in Madagascar.  At Akamasoa (‘Good Friends’), Fr Pedro Opeka (http://www.perepedro-akamasoa.net/) with help from around the world (ours included)  has, for the last 34 years, been upholding the miracle of providing holistic care for the future of about 25000 poorest of the poor… among them over 17000 children!

Thirty participants from those who for many years were part of our Charity Nights attended, as well as  around thirty belonging to the close circle of Nives Care.

The High Tea event came to fruition after weeks of planning and preparation of the gathering place.  Nives Care with her dedicated friends, Rosa-Maria Lia and Maria Perugini, demonstrated their superb culinary/patisserie experience… Their amazing achievement is better understood looking at the photographs (to be published soon) than through my poor words trying to express something beyond my capacity…

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What contributed to the success of this year’s event, were:

• deliciously prepared food enjoyed in the cosy ambiance and decor of the gathering place;
• Francesca Chow’s offerings of home-made organic marmalade and other valuable items for sale;
• Elizabeth Lee’s total donation from sales of beautifully crafted precious pearls objects from Bowerhaus ;
• raffle and auction of items provided by Nives Care, Jeannette Beaudoin and Francesca Chow.

From our SFRCC committee, Jeannette Beaudoin provided decorative balloons (brought from Haberfield to Nives’ home on the day and installed by Carl Pavia) and Sinisita Filitoga cheerfully welcomed our participants collecting ‘entry’ donations.

The photographs from this event were taken by Dr Norman Yenson and Maria Perugini.

I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to our Good Lord for uniting us all in one, enabling us to prove that with HIM we can do lot of GOOD! And we did!  $7,943.00 will mean, that a lot of our adopted children will enjoy their schooling time and praying for us to obtain an abundance of God’s blessings for the time to come!

On my side, I do not dare to thank anybody for this beautiful success, because Jesus’ reward waiting for us at the end of our pilgrim life on Earth, will surpass everything we can imagine and express!

Only one thing I cherish in my heart, the privilege of having the company of so many wonderfully disposed friends of the poor among us.   God willing, I am ready to continue, (to the best of my ability) to secure  educational help for the thousands of those who are  God’s favoured in this world, the kids at Akamasoa (in our case)!

May God bless us all in our noble kindness towards them!

Yours grateful in Christ:  Fr Jan

2nd EVENT to mark our 25 YEARS OF OUR ACTIVITIES :

Our Charity Dinner  on 21^st October at 6pm  organised by the members of our committee, was programmed for 50 participants only, but with  big heart  Mrs Nives Care ‘enlarged’ her home to welcome 60 people. We enjoyed Greek, Italian and Thai food with BYO drinks, as has been the case for the past 25 years… Our usual contribution per person was $100, although a few generous participants gave six and some even seven times more; Deo gratias!!!  
60 places were aready ‘taken’ one month before the event!

With the  limited number of  our hard-working committee members available for the preparation of this 25^th anniversary of our SFRCC association event, the Good Lord provided extra help from unexpected ‘directions’! 

The main concern was to find volunteering, food providing people… !
Nevertheless, keeping in mind, that “doing our best, God will take care of the rest”, by God’s Providence, one evening I met at our good friends’ family, their relative from Thailand: Thairee Ampai.    Being in the hospitality business for decades, she volunteered to provide food for over 100 people, if needed! Joined by Nives Care and her team of cooks (Rosamaria Lia & Maria Perugini) and Sinisita Filitoga offering chicken from the Greek family’s ‘Kings Charcoal Chicken’ in Campbelltown, we were ‘on the track’ for the 25^th Anniversary of our SFRCC celebration diner!

Jennette Beaudoin, who has been in charge of the decoration of venues and tables for the past 13 years, was helped by Nives Care, Sinista Filitoga, Dennis Jean-Baptiste and myself.

Susan Fabro helped with ironing 6 tablecloths from Madagascar. These tablecloths were brought for the occasion by Jeannette Beaudoin with three flags and all decorations inside and outside of the venue.

‘A & L Florist’ from Bossley Park faithfully provided beautiful carnations and other flowers to bring joy of God’s art of natural beauty to participants…

Our sales table was well furnished with chocolates form Poland, thanks to the big heart of Wojciech Serafin from ‘Wawel Import Export’, accompanied with ‘Bowerhaus’ jewellery provided by always devoted to our cause, Elizabeth Lee. Many other items were offered by generosity of Nives Care, Francesca Chow, Fr Jerzy Chrzczonowicz, Maria Vaccari and ‘Roma’ Pizzeria at South Hurstville. Before this Charity Night, also Jeannette Beaudoin, Susan Fabro and Bernard Fortin contributed to the success of our sales.

Excellent champagne for all participants at the entrance with red and white wine for our VIP table and bottled water for all, were generously provided by Angela and Frank Valore from ‘Valore Cellars’.

We were honoured by the attendance of His Lordship Daniel Meagher (auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Sydney), Fr Brian Lucas (National Director of the Catholic Mission), Mr Anthony Knox (Honorary General Consul of Madagascar) with his wife Suzanne, Fr Thomas Alukka (PP at Mater Dei-St Raphael), Sister Telesia Talalua (accompanying sick from New Caledonia and Wallis-Futuna Islands in Sydney metropolitan hospitals) and Br Ben Krupowicz (St Raphael’s).  Mr Martin Jouillard (General Consul of France) sent his apology. My brother, Fr Jerzy, couldn’t attend due to an unexpected medical condition and sent his apology also.

From 6pm, the welcoming glass of champagne with delicious food provided by Nadia and Laurent Schwarz from ‘C’est Si Bon’ patisserie at Rose Bay, facilitated the interaction of participants… The majority, known to each other from our previous Charity Nights, were happy to ‘reconnect’, and the new faces enjoyed an experience of being part of this incredible God’s Charity encounter, making new friends animated by the same Spirit of Generosity…

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At 7 pm, Bishop Daniel Meagher opened our gathering with God’s blessing, then everybody moved towards the kitchen with abundantly furnished tables of a great variety of food provided by our benefactors…

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In my humble few words, I tried to summarise our last 25 years of experience in providing God’s given – through our common generosity – help to the poorest of the poor in Madagascar, especially now taking care of the education of 17,300 orphans and abandoned children at Akamasoa (‘Good Friends’)… I expressed my gratitude for the presence of Fr Brian Lucas, because thanks to our partnership with Catholic Mission, those of our benefactors who wish it, are able to receive a tax deduction for their contributions.

The abundance of the exceptional main meal was  followed by the drawing of our ‘great’ lottery done by Mrs Suzanne Knox. A delicious and plentiful variety of desserts provided by Nadia and Laurent Schwarz (‘C’est Si Bon’), Thairee Ampai, Nives Care (with her three friends mentioned above) and Rosa Cardoso, was proceeded by ‘Lucky door’ prices drawing assured by Sr Telesia Talalua. The very attractive, 25^th Anniversary cake was offered by Jeannette Beaudoin and Sinisita Filitoga.

Towards the end Fr Lucas presented us with a description of the Catholic Mission’s activities acknowledging the importance of generosity providing support for those in need.

Ending our Siver Jubilee of SFRCC event, George Maurice  – beautifully preformed Charles’s Gounod ‘Ave Maria’.

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Yours grateful in Christ for solidarity in uniting us to bring to our adopted poor children the hope of better future:  Fr Jan

            25 years anniversary of SYDNEY FRENCH ROMAN CATHOLIC CHARITIES offered us opportunity to continue to be an active part of this endeavor, buying the lottery tickets through our committee members or community leaders in our area. Brooklet of ten for $20 ($2 ticket). Thanks to the generous hearts among us, we can with gratitude to them have a look at the following prizes which were won by following numbers:

1. Bowerhaus* classic mystic blush pearl necklace with earrings valued at $2800.00 – donated by Elizabeth Lee won by number 1150
2. Bowerhaus white pearl necklace with diamanté clasp valued at $1800.00 won by number 8364
3. Oil painting (“Gnoaming in the gnoaming” 90x64cm) by David Robert Hill valued at $1500.00 – donated by the artist won by number 1637
4. Gift Card from Bing Lee (valid 4 years) valued at $1000.00 – donated by Fr Jan  won by number 7987
5.  LG8 Bottle Mini Wine Fridge with dozen wine bottles valued at $569 from «Valore Cellars» won by number 550
6.  Voucher $500.00 from Myer – donated by Nadia Fortuné won by number 9113
7. Voucher $500.00 from International Ceramics won by number 9193
8. Gourmet hamper valued at $280.00 from «Providorium». won by number 6223
9. Gift Basket valued at $250.00 from «GJ Food». won by number 6550
10. Gift basket valued at $100.00 donated by Sybra & Harry Hunt won by number 2493
11. Gift basket valued at $100.00 donated by Sybra & Harry Hunt won by number 8730
12. Supplementary 4 vouchers of $25 form Kings Charcoal Chicken; won by number 6863

                                        Drawn at 33 Church St, Blakehurst – Saturday 21^st October 2023                            

My Dear Friends of our beautiful, adopted children at Akamasoa in Madagascar!

With the entire world still in a state of ‘induced’ disorientation, a dose of fear for the future, as small businesses, and the livelihoods of many are collapsing…

One day the Lucky Country, the following day the Big Camp of confinements and all kinds of limitations for the sake of a ‘temporary’ salvation… 

In this atmosphere of hardship and with the self-preservation instinct in play, the Good Lord still makes His Way into the hearts of many!

In our Christian approach to the difficulties of life, especially poverty and unjust suffering, we are aware of Jesus associating Himself with those who go through these unpleasant and often tragic experiences of life.

Even without any kind of association with Christ, good people moved by the challenging reality of the suffering of others, ‘activate’ in their hearts the attitude of solidarity and natural compassion and become part of this great endeavour called “Akamasoa” (“Good Friends”).

Ongoing restrictions relating to freedom of movement, made it a little difficult to gather all the butts of sold lottery tickets by the advertised drawing date.  So, after consultation with all committee members of our association, the drawing date of this year’s lottery was moved  to Saturday 4^th of December.

Due to the local government elections, the Parish Hall at St Raphael’s was not available but Fr Thomas Alukka, the new administrator of the Parish, welcomed us at Mater Dei.

Preparation of the venue began on Friday 3^rd at 6 pm. Jeannette Beaudoin brought all the necessary items for the transformation of the classroom into a welcoming, cosy space.

She was heartfeltly helped by Sinisita Filitoga, Marina Jean-Baptiste and myself.

After two and half hours of activities, we paused, and sipping a little cup of tea and enjoying a piece of cake, we admired the ‘new look’ of our space:

decorated tables ready to welcome finger food provided by “C’est Si Bon” patisserie (Nadia and Laurent Schwarz) and ‘French Cakes Sydney’ (Françoise Nicoloff and James Travouillon);

colourful flowers embellishing the place were contributed by ‘A & L Florist Supplies (Olivieri)’; and uplifting spirits drinks (champagne/sparkling wine with red and white wines) were supplied by the courtesy of ‘Valore Cellars’.

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The day of the lottery drawing began with the customary meeting of our SFRCC Committee to evaluate our past activities and make plans for the future.  With God’s help our aim is ‘doing better’ by helping our thousands adopted children, providing them with sound education.

At around 10:30 am, we welcomed four representatives of the Italian Prayer Group from Ryde, followed by Mr. Anthony Knox (Honorary General Consul of Madagascar) and Mrs. Anne BOILLON (General Consul of France), joined later by Brother Ben from St Raphael and Fr Thomas Alukka.

After reciprocal greetings and introductions, we had time to talk, to share our stories, and our perception of the current situation in Australia and abroad, all accompanied by delicious finger food and drinks. 

Then, around 12:30 pm, Mrs. Anne BOILLON assisted by Mr. Anthony Knox and our secretary Sinisita Filitoga conducted the drawing of our lottery.

I’d like to express once again my heartfelt appreciation to those who generously contributed to this lottery and congratulate the winners who can now enjoy their prizes:

1. Bowerhaus*White Baroque Pearls Necklace with matching earrings valued at $2200.00 – donated by Elizabeth Lee won by number : 4829  
2. Oil painting (“The Glass House Mountain. QLD”) by David Robert Hill valued at $1300.00 – donated by the artist, won by number : 4951
3. Bowerhaus White round Pearls Necklace (adjustable length) with a four-leaf-clover; diamanté clasp + matching  dangling earrings at $1,000.00 donated by E. Lee, won by number : 7584
4.  Chivas Regal Scotch 4.5 ltvalue of $379.99  +  Voucher $200 (to be used in store to purchase wines only) donated by  A. & F. Valore from «Valore Cellars», won by number : 5521
5. Bowerhaus Baroque Pearl Enhancer valued at $550.00 (This piece of jewelry was chosen by Her Excellency the Honorable Governor-General Margaret Beasley AC QC to wear of her official portrait) donated by Elizabeth Lee, won by number : 7628
6.  Voucher $500.00 donated by «Cadry’s Persian Carpets Specialists» at Edgecliff valid one year, won by number : 2353
7.  Voucher $500.00 from Myer – donated by Nadia Fortuné, won by number : 7276
8.  Voucher $500.00 from International Ceramics, won by number : 5750
9.  Gourmet hamper valued at $280.00 – donated by Guy Roose from «Apromo Pty Ldt», won by number : 5812 
10. Gift Basket valued at $150.00 – donated by «GJ Food», won by number : 1162
11. Gift basket valued at $100.00 donated by Sybra & Harry Hunt, won by number : 2393
12. Voucher valued at $100.00 (2x$50) donated by «Ganache Pâtisserie Française» at Castlecrag, won by number : 4781

Buying this tickets, we took a part of the great project called “Akamasoa” in Madagascar. It was funded by Fr Pedro OPEKA (see http://www.perepedro-akamasoa.net/) in 1989. For the last 32 years it provides an urgent temporary relief to 25000 (16000 children) of the poorest of the poor through: getting children to the primary, secondary and tertiary education; providing vocational training; providing health care; building family housing for the homeless; providing employment through the activities of the association and outside; accompanying the return of families without work in villages and towns of origin and providing access to services for all poor of the neighborhood. May Almighty GOD reward your goodness with His blessing!     

*Bowerhaus policy on raffle prizes: Though all raffle items donated are valuable, they have no monetary value toward exchange// or upgrade; however, they still bare Bowerhaus’ pride of good workmanship.   (8000 tickets printed)   

This was followed by the degustation of very, very delicious cakes (enjoyed by all) provided by the French patisseries mentioned above.

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After our distinguished guests’ departure, the following members of our committee: Jeannette Beaudoin, Marina and Denis Jean-Baptiste, Françoise and George Maurice and myself, returned the state of the classroom to its previous condition and we left the place at 3:20 pm.

In conclusion, I would like to renew my heartfelt gratitude to all who, during our 23^rd (2021) appeal for help to the poorest of the poor in Madagascar, by their spiritual support, generosity in donations and amazing spontaneity in providing the items for our sales, made this 23^rd fundraising a wonderful success despite the hard times!

Worthy of special mention are our benefactors of the poor, Jeannette Beaudoin, Michele and Bernard Fortin, Sybra and Harry Hunt and Elisabeth Lee, who provided many precious items for sale from Madagascar and locally made artefacts.

Thanks to the generosity of all the participants, final results of this 23rd fundraising are as follow:

Donations: 130,531

Sales: 4,121

Lottery: 15,210

TOTAL: 149,862.00

May the Good Lord, through the prayerful intercession of our beautiful children at Akamasoa, remember us at the hour of our needs, especially when one day leaving behind us all the material environment, we would hear Him welcoming us in His Kingdom of Eternal Jerusalem: Mt 25, 21; 34; 40…  

Yours grateful in Christ for your faithful friendship of good hearts:  Fr Jan    

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Avec Les enfants d’Akamasoa  nous vous souhaitons un joyeux Noël et une heureuse Année  2022 pleine de santé et de paix. 

With our children of Akamasoa we wish you a joyful Christmas and a happy Year 2022 filled with health and peace.

On Thursday, 13 January 2022 our SFRCC Association made the direct transfer to Akamasoa account the final sum not requiring  tax deductibility: $ 93,272.00 ( USD 65,206.46 )

Catholic Mission on the 22 February made the direct transfer into Akamasoa account $ 50,931.14 (EUR 32,198.67), after deducting 10% in administration fee.

Given the worldwide situation due to the Covit-19, and Australia not being an exception, our usual Charity Night for this year has been cancelled.  Nevertheless our 2020 fundraising for our poorest of the poor (especially children!) under the paternal care of Fr Pedro Opeka at Akamasoa in Madagascar is  ‘alive and well’ and going ahead thanks to the generosity of the charitable hearts around us. It’s a very important and noble thing to remember, that even when we are undergoing  trials and hardship, there are always people in more precarious situations than ours…     Through our generosity, we express our gratitude to God for His presence in our life and show our solidarity with Jesus suffering in the poor…      

Friday 30th of October at 6pm, some members of our SFRCC committee (Jeannette Beaudoin, Sinisita Filitoga, Marina and Denis Jean-Baptiste) and myself gathered to prepare the hall at St Raphael’s Parish (South Hurstville) for the drawing of our lottery.

Keeping in mind all the ‘crown-viral’ precautions, we combined simplicity with a taste of welcoming those who would take part the following day, in the drawing of lottery. As it was for the last 11 years, Jeannette Beaudoin did her best, harmonising the tables decoration with the part of Parish/school Hall dedicated to our event.

Bouquets of flowers from A&L Flowers found their place on the tables giving an impression of serenity. Red, white and sparkling wine bottles, were offered by the long-time faithful supporters of our fundraising, Valore Cellars. International Ceramics on their part provided flat and sparkling water to temper the thirst between the tempting contents of wine glasses.         

On Saturday 31^st of October, afternoon, the finger food and sweets were delivered to our place, courtesy of ‘C’est Si Bon’ (Nadia and Laurent Schwarz) and ‘French Cakes Sydney’ (Françoise Nicoloff and James Travouillon).

From 6 pm on, our participants began to arrive.

Members of our committee: Jeannette Beaudoin, Philippe Etienne, Sinisita Filitoga, with Marina and Denis Jean-Baptiste were there to welcome our wonderful guest of honour, Mrs Anne Boillon (General Consul of France) as well as Dr Patrick Morris (aspirant candidate to join our committee) and exemplary in their generosity towards our poor in Madagascar, Mrs Giuseppina Galluzzo with her people.

Fr Isidor Anantharaj (PP) and Brother Ben Krupowicz (Pastoral Ministry Coordinator) also came to enjoy our evening.

At 7:30 pm, our French Consul General, Mrs Anne Boillon drew the winning numbers of our lottery.

After a wonderful time of enjoying the spirit of support for our poorest of the poor at Akamasoa in Madagascar (especially 15000 children) our event ended with each other exchanging the best wishes for Christmas and a New Year 2021.

Hopefully the 2021 will bring us together for the great dinner at All Saints parish hall at Liverpool.

Knowing that our charitable activities are the work of God, we continue (whatever the situation) our fundraising and the friends of Madagascar – thanks God – are visibly in ‘good mode’ of generosity towards the poor in spirit of gratefulness to our Lord for His blessings bestowed upon us!

I’m grateful to all our benefactors who gave me a pleasure to announce the very valuable prizes for our 22nd Fundraising  Lottery.  My gratefulness is directed also to all those who didn’t hesitated to buy this lottery tickets, providing little bit of help in education of our adopted children at Akamasoa. 

          Here are the winners of this year lottery :  

1. Oil painting (“Sydney Skyline”) by David Robert Hill valued at $2500.00 – donated by the Italian Prayer Group/Ryde  –  winning number :  1448
2. Bowerhaus*Old Hollywood tripe strand white pearls necklace with matching pair of earrings valued at $2200.00 – donated by Elizabeth Lee – winning number :  2946
3. Bowerhaus single strand white baroque pearls necklace + matching diamanté earrings at $1200.00 donated by Lee  – winning number :  6258
4. Bowerhaus triple strands necklace of Ocean Midnight Blue pearls and rock crystals + a pair of matching earrings valued at $650.00 donated by Elizabeth Lee – winning number :  0090
5. Voucher $500 donated by «Cadry’s Persian Carpets Specialists» at Edgecliff valid one year. – winning number :  6919
6.  Voucher $500 from Myer – donated by Nadia Fortuné – winning number :  3198
7. Voucher $500 from International Ceramics – winning number :  4687
8. Gift basket value of $390.00 donated by A. & F. Valore from «Valore Cellars» – winning number :  1535
9. Gourmet hamper valued at $280.00 – donated by Guy Roose from «Apromo Pty Ldt». – winning number : 4001
10. Gift Basket valued at $150.00 – donated by «GJ Food». – winning number : 1258
11. Gift basket valued at $100 donated by Sybra & Harry Hunt – winning number :  3808
12. Voucher valued at $100.00 (2x$50) donated by «Ganache Pâtisserie Française» at Castlecrag  – winning number :  1575

          Drawn at St Raphael’s Parish Hall, Sth Hurstville – Saturday,31^st October 2020          ********************************************************************************************          Buying our lottery tickets, giving any possible donation, you will become a part of the great project called “Akamasoa” in Madagascar. It was funded by Fr Pedro OPEKA (see http://www.perepedro-akamasoa.net/) in 1989. For the last 31 years it provides an urgent temporary relief to 25000 of the poorest of the poor through: getting children to the primary, secondary and tertiary education ; providing vocational training; providing health care; building family housing for the homeless; providing employment through the activities of the association and outside; accompanying the return of families without work in villages and towns of origin and providing access to services for all poor of the neighbourhood. May Almighty GOD reward your goodness with His blessing!               

*Bowerhaus policy on raffle prizes: Though all raffle items donated are valuable, they have no monetary value toward exchange or upgrade; (however, they still bare Bowerhaus’ pride of good workmanship)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              (7000 tickets printed)

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I’m heartfeltly grateful for wonderful response of our benefactors to this 22^nd appeal and moved by their generosity in this time of trials for us all.

 Yours grateful in Christ:   Fr Jan

On Tuesday, 5 January 2021 our SFRCC Association made the direct transfer to Akamasoa account the final sum not requiring  tax deductibility: $85,536.00 (Euros 50,764.53)

On Friday, 1 February 2021, the Catholic Mission made the direct transfer to Akamasoa account the final sum of $16,110.00 (after deducting 10% from $17,900.00 as an administration fee)

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My Dear Friends of the poor in Madagascar!

Last year we celebrated 20years of our perseverance in proving that our Humanity imprinted through God’s Image within us is bringing little bit of difference into the world, to those suffering all kinds of injustice, especially extreme poverty.

This year, for the 21^st time, we gathered to share our wellbeing with 25000 poor with among them 15000 orphaned and abandoned children. Our help is going towards the education of these beautiful little ones and their medical attention when needed.

A detailed report of all activities at Akamasoa is available on www.perepedro-akamasoa.net

Once again, we are thankful to Fr Paul Monkerud, Parish Priest at All Saints in Liverpool for allowing us to use the venue for our Charity Night. Even though he couldn’t join us, he ‘popped in’ to wish us the best, for which we are grateful. 

160 participants were welcomed to the place where, at the vigil of the event, two teams put their best talents into effect in order to make the Saturday 26^th October event memorable and pleasant to all !

This year, the kitchen was at its ‘top brass’ under the direction of Anne-Claire JOSEPH. On the night of the event, she was coordinating a team composed of: Paul Aloir; Jacques & Nathalie Govinden; Denis & Marina Jean-Baptiste; Danielle & Gervais Joseph; Hervé & Joceline Juste; Bruno, Clara, Françoise, Thomas & Noah Nourdine; Rebecca Perrine and Dylan Tyrell. Mario Iunius (from International Ceramics) provided large in size oven.

In the preparation of the hall, Jeannette BEAUDOIN was assisted by: Malika & Peter De Zilva; Steve Du Casse with his son Jacques; Sinisita Filitoga;  Bernard & Michele Fortin; Denis, Marie-Thérèse &  Marina Jean-Baptiste; Andrew Jelavic; Françoise & George Maurice; Helène & Jean-Louis Worobec and Delphine & Noël Yandamutso. Brother Dr Patrick Lew form Ipoh in Malaysia   with Fathers: Claudio Roberti and Leopoldo Feola from Madagascar were there also to give a hand.

On the attractively decorated tables were flowers provided by A&L Florist and wine by Valore Cellars from Carramar (VIP table) and Audrey Wilkinson from Hunters Valley (30 tables). Mineral water from Italy was generously offered by Lamonica IGA (Haberfield).  

Looking at the abundantly furnished buffet, we could admire and appreciate the generosity of those who contributed to the satisfaction of the participants’ culinary expectations. These are the people who with big hearts made that dinner fabulous: 

Paul Aloir ;  Marie-Thérèse & Robin Barnes ; Rosa Cardoso ; Francesca Chow ; Guariana & Davide Giada (“Caffetteria Italia”); Jacques Govinden ; Mario Iunius (“International Ceramics”) ; Jocelyne Juste ; Maryse Maurice ; Steve Motte (“Label Baghette”) ; Françoise Nourdine ; Marina Peerbaye ; Joanne Perrine ; Marjorie & Dr Nino Sa-Cordeiro ; Nadia & Laurent Schwarz (“C’est Si Bon” Pâtisserie), Leanne & Didier Sockeel (“Ganache” Pâtisserie Française) and  Maria Tomei.

Ky Chow proved once again his MC talents, Philippe Etienne accompanied our event with background music and unforgettable entertainment was provided by our famous accordion Maestro Ross Maio and our brave Elvis (Steve Du Casse).

The majority of pictures from this event were taken by Dasi Chow and some by Jeannette Beaudoin, Pierre Brunet and few by myself; video was provided by Rosa Cardoso.

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Worthy to acknowledge was the generosity of our volunteers, who not only gave their time and provided wonderful services, but at the same time contributed financially as a gesture of thanksgiving to God for the blessings they are enjoying in their daily life, being able to do ‘something extra’ to Jesus suffering in the poor (in this case at Akamasoa in Madagascar).     

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That evening we were honoured by the attendance of the Bishop Emeritus Peter Ingham; General Consul of France Anne Boillon with her husband Boris; Brother Dr Patrick Liew (Director of the Catholic Hospital Fatimah in Ipoh – Malaysia); Fathers Claudio Roberti & Leopoldo Feola (Missionaries form Madagascar), Sister Telesia Talalua (long years serving the sick from New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna in the hospitals around metropolitan Sydney) ; Fr Wills Melteras (newly appointed chaplain to the French speaking for the Archdiocese of Sydney); Conor Nolan (from Catholic Mission); Christina Daley with her little son (longstanding supporter of our event) and on behalf of the Honorary General Consul of Madagascar, Anthony Knox at the event: Lorna & Lavasoa Andriamora.

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We enjoyed a very moving message form Fr Pedro surrounded by his/our little adopted children… Even though he was speaking in French, the majority of us could feel the meaning of the passional words describing his 30 years endeavour in which we ourselves are humbly proud to participate.

In my little speech, I expressed my great and heartfelt appreciation to all our participants and especially those who voluntarily gave their time in the kitchen and to those involved in the preparation of the hall as well as our longstanding benefactors.

My sincere appreciation will not take away the recognition/thanks they will be receiving ‘one Day’ from God… I did not like to spoil this privilege for them, that is why I did not thank them individually, but I express my heartfelt appreciation to them for being a wonderful part of the team with me.

Then our guests from Madagascar addressed our gathering: Fr Leopoldo in Italian and Fr Claudio in French.  They expressed their admiration for what we are doing for our poor at Akamasoa, and encouraged us to continue such a noble activity.

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It is important to mention that our three guests:  Br Dr Patrick Liew, Fr Leopoldo Peola and Fr Claudio Roberti were among us thanks to the generosity of Francesca Chow who offered each of them return tickets from and to Madagascar and Malaysia.

Between the meal, dancing, talking to the friends at the table and moving around, a lot of us enjoyed ‘shopping’ at the stall of Francesca Chow (furnished with items donated by herself, Jeannette Beaudoin, Rosa Cardoso, Lily Liew, Katarzyna & Wojciech Serafin (Wawel Import Export), Leanne & Didier Sockeel (Ganache Pâtisserie Française), Maria Tomei, and Joëlle Vrisakis) and ‘venturing’ through the silent auction, which was run by Sharon & John McDivitt with Yvonne & Christopher Reddy (items generously donated by Betty Lee and Joëlle Vrisakis).

Time for dancing was followed by a delicious desert and then came the lotteries’ draw prepared that night by Camilla and Alain Creugnet The ‘great’ lottery was drawn by Mrs Anne Boillon and the ‘lucky door’ by Sister Telesia Talalua.

I’d like to acknowledge the generosity of our faithful benefactors of this year lottery and congratulate the winners: 

1. Bowerhaus* Old Hollywood Tripe Strand of 8, 10 & 12 mm of graduating white pearls necklace with a pair of earrings valued at $2800.00 – donated by Elizabeth Lee; won by number: 5601   
2. Oil painting (“Sydney Skyline”) by David Robert Hill valued at $2500.00 – donated by the artist; won by number: 9632
3. Bowerhaus Old Hollywood 12mm round white pearls short necklace & earring set valued at $1200.00 given by E. Lee; won by number: 2832
4. Bowerhaus White round pearls necklace (adj. length) & earring set valued at $1000.00 given by Elizabeth Lee; won by number: 1671
5.  Vintec wine fridge V30SGM with 30 bottles of wine value of $1000.00 donated by A. & F. Valore from «Valore Cellars»; won by number 5439
6.  Voucher $500.00 donated by «Cadry’s Persian Carpets Specialists» at Edgecliff valid one year; won by 5635 
7.    Voucher $500.00 from Myer – donated by Nadia Fortuné; won by 8361
8.    Voucher $500.00 donated by Dina & Mario Iunius from International Ceramics; won by number: 9082
9.   Gourmet hamper valued at $280.00 – donated by Guy Roose from «Apromo Pty Ldt»; 4738  
10. Voucher valued at $150.00 for ‘Bella Fonte’ Restaurant at Comfort Inn Hunts Liverpool valid until 31/01/20;   donated by Sybra & Harry Hunt; won by number: 1217
11. Voucher valued at $150.00 for ‘Bella Fonte’ Restaurant at Comfort Inn Hunts Liverpool valid until 31/01/20;   donated by Sybra & Harry Hunt; won by number: 5926
12. Gift Basket valued at $150.00 – donated by «GJ Food»; won by number: 3702   
13. Gift Basket valued at $120.00 – donated by «Petersham Liquor Market» (unavailable; substituted by cash) won by number: 3326
14. Gourmet hamper valued at $100.00 donated by «Ganache Pâtisserie Française» at Castlecrag; won by number: 3392

Lucky door prizes were provided by our generous friends of the poor:  Jeannette Beaudoin, Liliane Dubourdieu (before her Wonderful Departure to the Heavenly Jerusalem), Anne-Marie Puaud and Nadia & Laurent Schwarz.

Our 21^st Charity Night concluded with a habitual performance of our admirable Elvis…

Members of our committee joined by some of the participants restored the hall to the pre-event conditions, and last to leave the place just before midnight, were Jeannette Beaudoin, Sinisita Filitoga and myself.

I am keeping in my heart and prayer all those, especially the main contributors to our help towards Akamasoa, who prefer to remain anonymous and asking God to gather us – according to His will – again in 2020 for our 22^nd Charity Night at the same venue on Saturday 24 October.

Hopefully Fr Pedro Opeka will honour us with his presence.

Up to today we can thank God for the following result of this year fundraising:

Donations: 102452

Lottery: 19224

Sales: 5028

Silent auction: 880

TOTAL: 127584

Grateful in Christ:   Fr Jan 

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P.S.

If I inadvertently forgot to mention some people, I apologise for it and leave it to the Almighty to ‘compensate’ them with His blessing!

Please note we are still accepting donations for this year until the end of December.

On Tuesday, 7 January 2020 our SFRCC Association made the direct transfer to Akamasoa account the final sum not requiring  tax deductibility: $97,474.01 (Euros 57,265.98)  

The rest (less 10% for the administration fee) will be forwarded by Catholic Mission at the beginning or February.

My Dear Friends!

In the spirit of our 20 years long journey based on a wonderful learned experience of working together for the well-being of 25,000 poorest of the poor in the outskirts of Antananarivo (Akamasoa), we can joyfully thank God for His blessings in keeping our team united and many of our supporters faithfully contributing to the achievement of this endeavour we call “Charity Night”.

Akamasoa, is the place where with Fr Pedro Opeka in charge, under his heartfelt dedication and guidance, the poor built for the poor an oasis of well-being, like the premise of heaven surrounded by the ocean of misery… 92% of population are living under the poverty line in Madagascar!

On our part, we adopted with God’s help not one or a few, but 14,000 little children (the majority abandoned and orphans). Our help is providing them with many months of education.  One of our dollars can provide one day of schooling per child: a small bowl of rice with beans before and after the classes and medical care when needed. I would encourage you, Dear Friends, to ‘have a look’ at the details of this beautiful and great endeavour we are part of:  www.perepedro-akamasoa.net.

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As for the last 20 years, I would like to express my profound gratitude to all the members of our committee, to the participants and especially: kitchen team with Georgette and Ramon Paltoo at the helm and Jeannette Beaudoin behind the preparation of the Parish hall at Liverpool.

At the vigil of our event, Saturday 26 last October (4 pm), the ‘working bees’ gathered to take care of the kitchen (Paul Aloir, Jocelyne & Hervé Juste, Georgette & Ramon Paltoo) and prepare the hall (Jeannette Beaudoin, Gérard Clément, Steve Du Casse with his sons: Jacques & Paris, Elodie Ehlan, Sinisita Filitoga, Michele & Bernard Fortin, Andrew Jelavic, Gino Martignago, Françoise & George Maurice and Helène & Jean-Louis Worobec).

The kitchen was relatively well maintained so there was no need for a ‘big cleaning job’ as was the case years ago. We give the ‘thumb up’ to the manager of the place, Eric Morelli, who also provided us with a sufficient number of tables and chairs.

The Parish hall, thanks to the careful, well organised activities: putting in place and cleaning of tables and chairs, decorating tables and walls was ready to welcome participants by 10:30 pm.

On Saturday 27 in the morning Jeannette Beaudoin brought the beautiful flowers given by Lauretta & Alvisio Olivieri (A&L Florist) for the embellishment of our tables. In the afternoon Francesca Chow with her friends Sharon & John McDivitt joined by Malika & Peter De Zilva and others, put together a magnificent stall of variety of items for sales during the night… Francesca Chow brought magnificent carnations from her garden flowers, jars of her homemade jams, her colourful cushions and quilts…

Wojciech Serafin (Wawel Import Export) enriched the stall with lot of exquisite chocolate and sweets from Poland he donated for this occasion.

Wine (red and white) for the guests of honour was provided by Angela & Frank Valore (Valore Cellars) and bottles of red/white wine on each table by Carole Castellan, Josette Kishtoo and Krystelle Vicary. Italian sparkling and flat water to all were provided by Robert Lamonica (Lamonica IGA).

Before our place was opened to welcome all the friends of Akamasoa, the kitchen volunteers mentioned above were joined by Nourdine family (Bruno, Françoise, Clara, Noah et Thomas) and the couple Jacques & Nathalie Govinden. They gave all their hearts and minds into the preselection, partition and presentation of the food at the dinner time on the tables in the hall.

It’s worthy and important to acknowledge the generosity and skills of those who dedicated their time and their culinary abilities to offer  delicious and savoury dinner to over 200 people: Paul Aloir, Jeannette Beaudoin, Pierre Brunet, Francesca Chow, Janette Dalais, Stephanie Dubuisson, Sinisita Filitoga, Lylette François, Nathalie Govinden, Margaret Joseph, Patricia Joseph, Jocelyne Juste, Roseby Malepa, Maryse Maurice, Jacqueline Mavisa, Guariana Moschon & Davide Giada (Caffatteria Italia), Françoise Nourdine, Eileen Noyeaux, Georgette Paltoo, Mirella Paltoo, Monique Paltoo, Denise Patel, Marina Peerbaye,  Nadia & Laurent Schwarz (“C’est Si Bon” Patisserie), Marie Paul Sidonie, Leanne& Didier Sockeel (“Ganache” Patisserie) and Danielle Tranquille.

Florence & Stephan Motte (Label Baguette) donated baguettes, fresh from their bakery at Maroubra French, to accompany the food.

This time the ‘early birds’ were little bit surprised by the ‘bottleneck’ at the entrance to the hall caused by my late half an hour arrival… Lesson for the future: to leave the donations receipt booklets with someone close to the place… and not to make half away U-turn to pick them up from home…

Thanks God, quick thinking of Dina Iunius ‘saved’ the situation by registering donations in her book to be transferred later on into the official ones.

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I would like to make known the appreciation of all our participants (myself included) to the presence of one of our spiritual leaders, auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Sydney: Most Reverend Richard Umbers.  It was also our great honour to welcome Honourable Michel Daley MP and his wife Christina, General Consul of France: Mr Nicolas Croizer, Honorary General Consul of Madagascar Mr Anthony Knox and his wife Suzanne, Fr Brian Lucas (National Director of Catholic Mission), Brother Dr Patrick Liew (Fatimah Hospital’s Director in Ipoh, Malaysia), Sister Telesia Talalua (care of the sick from Wallis and Futuna in the hospitals of greater Sydney). It was also a pleasure to see at our VIP table Fr Lewi Barakat representing Fr Paul Monkerut PP and for the first time Fr Ruben Martello FSF, whose parents were present with us, given their great and longstanding dedication to the cause of the poor in Madagascar.

Around 7:30 pm, Ky Chow, our MC for the event, opened the gathering inviting His Lordship Richard Umbers to bless our evening with his Apostolic blessing, followed by the tasty and abundant dinner.

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We were accompanied by soft (and boosting our appetite) music, courtesy of Gerard Clément DJ.

At 9:30 pm it was my turn to express my gratitude to all those present and especially members of the committee and friends of our poor in Madagascar for their longstanding 20 years dedication and generosity.

Firstly, I would like to pay my homage especially to those who went to be rewarded by Jesus who associated himself with the poor when He was talking about our upcoming last judgment (Mt 25:31-40)…  Member-founder of our association: Jean Sydney Fortuné (2006), member of our committee: Michel Soultan (2015) and generous supporter of our lottery: Roger Marius Defranchi (2016)…    And from Madagascar, I’d like to remember our holy man, doctor in medicine and successor of the Apostles: Mgr Pierre Zévaco who twice blessed our Charity gathering in person (2001 & 2006) who went from this world in 2017.

Secondly, it is important to acknowledge the great contribution of our ‘pioneers’ in organising food for our Charity dinner: Christian & Marielle Guillemin until 2011, then after 2012 with Nadia Schwarz in charge, from 2013 Alphonse & Marie-Claire Perrine were busy with food ‘supply’ and since 2017: Georgette & Ramon Paltoo.

The food provided was always greatly appreciated by the participants, nevertheless the place where it was enjoyed, the decorum of the hall and tables also played a big role…

Care for making our parish hall ‘welcoming’ our guests was from the beginning in the hands of Nadia Fortuné and from 2012 until now: Jeannette Beaudoin.

To those two teams: kitchen and hall, congratulations for your input, lasting dedication and sacrifice of your time and material given to making our 20 last events memorable and greatly appreciated by our poor (especially 1400 of children – among them the majority orphans and abandoned) at Akamasoa! This year Akamasoa will celebrate 30 year of its foundation and the Holy Father, the Pope Francis promised to come to Madagascar and to celebrate the Eucharist at their place!

And we are, by our participation in keeping Akamasoa alive, we are greatly blessed!

I would like to thank God for the privilege of blessings we, all the participants, have received welcoming at our events the successors of the Apostles:  Bishop David Cremin (1999, 2000), Bishop Pierre Zévaco (2001, 2006), Archbishop George Pell (2002), Bishop Julian Porteous (2003, 2009), Bishop Anthony Fisher (2004), Bishop Peter Ingham (2005), Archbishop Issam John Darwish (2006), Bishop Terry Brady (2011), Bishop Benjamin Ramaroson (2008, 2010, 2012), Bishop Peter Comensoli (2013), Archbishop Paul Gallagher – Apostolic Nuncio (2014), Archbishop Adolfo Tito Yllana – Apostolic Nuncio (2016), Bishop Anthony Randazzo (2017), Bishop Richard Umbers (2018).

Fr Pedro Opeka from Akamasoa blessed our Charity Night in 2011 and 2013.

This little ‘look into’ our last 20 years wouldn’t be complete if I did not mention our great friends from diplomatic-political side:         (GC= General Consul; HC=High Commissioner; HGC=Honorary General Consul)

• Patrice Curé (HC of Mauritius; 1999, 2000), Anthony Knox (HGC of Madagascar; 1999 – 2002, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013 – 2018), Edward Duyker (HGC of Mauritius; 1999, 2000), Jean-Claude Poimboef (GC of France; 2000), Georges Ackaoui (HC of France; 2000), Marc Finaud (GC of France; 2001, 2002); Jane Jouanis (HC of Mauritius; 2002), Barclay O’Brian (HGC of Mauritius; 2003); Pierre Seilllan (First Advisor of the French Embassy; 2004), Laurent Delahousse (GC of France; 2004 – 2006), Ilona Kałdońska (Vice-consul of Poland; 2005), Patrick Renault (Ambassador of Belgium; 2009, 2010), Daniel Rafal Gromann (GC of Poland; 2009), Niel Marquardt (GC of USA; 2011), Eric Berti (GC of France; 2013, 2014), Regina Jurkowska (GC of Poland; 2016, 2017), Pierre Alexandre Bianconi (Vice-Consul of France; 2017), Nicolas Croizer (GC of France; 2018)
• John Mac Call (Delegate to the Superior Council of French living in Australia and Sud-Pacific, UFE; 1999 – 2002, 2004 – 2017), Robert Michkin (President of French-Australia Association; 2002), George Varughese (Ethnic Communities Council; 2004, 2005, 2007 – 2013, 2015 ), Michael Daley (MP; 2007, 2008, 2010 – 2013, 2015, 2018), Bernard Le Boursicot (President UFE; 2011, 2012)

After my little discourse, surrounded by our Association committee members, it was time to enjoy the ‘cutting of the cake’! I am putting it in brackets, because It was no ‘ordinary’ cake! French Patisseries: “Ganache” (Leanne& Didier Sockeel) and “C’est Si Bon” (Nadia & Laurent Schwarz) gave us the “top French” traditional ‘Piece montée’/ ‘Profiterole tower’ in three parts (tower + two ‘basements’) containing 200 pieces! Congratulations for the beauty of that masterpiece greatly appreciated by the ‘customers’ of all ages!!!

Then came ‘surprise, surprise’! Our MC, Ky Chow announced the time for dancing as never before: the great Maestro of piano accordion, Ross Maio, from the first touch with his golden magic fingers his extraordinary top-quality accordion, the hearts of many participants were uplifted  and as we can see on the pictures (when published) there was no need of encouragement (!). The powerful beauty of the music brought people to dance spontaneously and we could feel and admire like the whirlwind bringing to the parquet all spectrum of age in harmonious movement!  Greatly appreciated!

Then time came for a very abundant in variety and quality, dessert! During dinner and straight after it, our Elvis in person reappeared in front of us! Enjoyment again for ‘all ages’ and more movements, this time in Elvis’ style! Greatly appreciated also!

As usual, a great lottery (drawn by Christina, wife of Michael Daley MP) was followed by the ‘lucky door’ prize draw.

For the last many years Creugnet family was taking care for the last preparation and run of it during the event. This year Alain and his son Gabriel were joined by Andrew Jelavic.

For the last few years already, our great lottery drawing attracts curiosity of many people in the hall turning their heads towards the left corner of the hall (facing main entrance) where almost 1/3 of the winners are located! The attention is a result of often heard: “it’s US!” They are the members of the Italian prayer group from Ryde! Very generous people! For many years, under the leadership on Giuseppina Galluzzo they (with their relatives and friends) are buying 3500 lottery tickets and that why others were not picking up the reason of: “It’s US”!

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At the same time, acknowledging the generosity of the donors to the ‘great’ lottery prizes, I’d like to congratulate the winners.  These are the winning ticket’s numbers:

1. Bowerhaus*Old Hollywood Tripe Strand of 8, 10 & 12 mm of graduating white pearls necklace with a pair of earring valued at $2600.00– donated by Elizabeth Lee, won by number:    08059
2. Oil painting (“Summer Gestalt” 800×660 mm) by David Robert Hill valued at $1600.00 – donated by IT Prayer Group (Ryde) won by number:    05769
3. Bowerhaus Ocean Blue round pearls necklace (adjustable length)& earring set valued at $1000.00 given by Elizabeth Lee, won by number:    02882
4. Bowerhaus Champagne Blush round pearls necklace (adj. length)& earring set valued at $1000.00 given by Elizabeth Lee, won by number:    00258
5. Gift Voucher valued at $687 (3 Nights Midweek in a Superior King Room for 2, including breakfast and Dinner for 2 to the value of $60 at the Peninsula Nelson Bay) valid until 30^th November 2019, from «Valore Cellars», won by  number:    04472
6. Voucher$500 donated by «Cadry’s Persian Carpets Specialists» at Edgecliff valid one year, won by number:    08373
7. Voucher $500 from Myer – donated by Nadia Fortuné, won by number:    06993
8. Voucher $500 from Lamonica Homewares at Haberfield donated by Dina& Mario Iunius from International Ceramics, won by number:    05764
9. Gourmet hamper valued at $280.00– donated by Guy Roose from «Apromo Pty Ldt», won by number:    04285.
10. Voucher valued at $150for ‘Bella Fonte’ Restaurant at Comfort Inn HuntsLiverpool valid until 2/02/19;  donated by Sybra & Harry Hunt, won by number:    03922
11. Voucher valued at $150 for ‘Bella Fonte’ Restaurant at Comfort Inn Hunts Liverpool valid until 2/02/19;  donated by Sybra & Harry Hunt, won by number:    08671
12. Gift Basket valued at $150.00– donated by «GJ Food», won by number:    03283   
13. Oil painting (“Ghost Crab”) by Louise De Marco Jelavic valued at $120– donated by IT Prayer Group (Ryde), won by number:    03292
14. Gift Basket valued at $120.00 – donated by «Petersham Liquor Market», won by number:    02710
15. 2 Vouchers each valued at $50.00 donated by «Ganache Pâtisserie Française» at Castlecrag, 04041

* Bowerhaus cherished items are donated as raffle prizes in aid of charity. Though all raffle items donated are valuable, they have no monetary value toward exchange or upgrade; (however, they still bear the Bowerhaus’ pride of good workmanship).

Our ‘Lucky door’ prizes brought joy to 14 people! I take pleasure to acknowledge the generosity of those who gave the precious items which were often ‘rearranged’ by Jeannette Beaudoin and prepared ready to be taken home by the winners.  The generous donors are:  Jeannette Beaudoin, Liliane Dubourdieu, Anne Marie Puaud, Lise Selvon and Nadia Schwarz.

This unforgettable 20^th Charity Night finally came to the end…   Just over 200 people participated!

Those who were too tired to continue, went home. Those still feeling in ‘good shape’, gave a helpful hand to put away in order the chairs and tables, to clear away the wall decorations, to sweep the floor, and to leave the kitchen in good condition for the next function!

I would like to express again my gratitude to all the participants for their generous attitude towards our poorest of the poor in Madagascar under the caring dedication of Fr Pedro Opeka! Good job, Desi Tjioe, capturing unforgettable moments of this event we can now admire watching attached to this report pictures.

We ask God’s blessing upon the Parish Priest, Fr Paul Monkerut and his staff of giving us the use of the Parish hall for gratis. What a wonderful gesture of not charging us $600, gift going to Akamasoa! Thank you, Fr Paul and the good people around you!

Thanks God we have the best in 20 years result of the Spirit of Charity for our 2018 appeal:

donations:         72,929

participants:      18,070

sales:                      3609

lottery                 18,970

amounting to the sum of $ 113,578.00

May Almighty GOD reward your goodness with His blessing!  May one day we all could hear from our Lord: “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Mt 25,23). I’m sure, that there is no greater recognition that HIS!

Fr Jan

P.S.

If I forget by inadvertence to mention some people, I apologise for it and leave to the Almighty to ‘compensate’ them with His blessing my mistake!

On Wednesday 9 January our SFRCC Association made the direct transfer to Akamasoa account the sum of $89,838.00 (53,112.23 Euros)

The rest $23740 (less 10% for the admiration fee; Euros 13,238.37) has been forwarded by Catholic Mission on the 6th March 2019 .

FROM FR PEDRO TO ALL: 

Chers bienfaiteurs à Sydney,

Encore une fois nous étions agréablement surpris de votre générosité lors de la 20^ème Soirée de Charité que vous avez réalisé pour les enfants et les familles pauvres d’Akamasoa.

Nous sommes réellement heureux de voir votre détermination d’apporter votre brique au combat contre l’extrême pauvreté qui mène notre Association Akamasoa depuis 30 ans.

Par cette lettre, au nom de tous mes coéquipiers, responsables, les familles démunies et les milliers d’enfants qui étudient à Akamasoa, je voudrais vous dire notre profond remerciement pour ce grand amour avec lequel vous réalisez tous les ans ce grand Diner de Charité.

Je vois avec une grande admiration que la recette de votre Soirée augmente chaque année pour la plus grande joie des familles démunies qui bénéficieront de votre aide.

La somme de 66,350.60 euros que nous avons reçu de cette Soirée de Charité, nous allons l’utiliser pour acheter les médicaments qui sont tellement chers ici à Madagascar et que beaucoup des malades ne peuvent pas payer ces médicaments. Grâce à votre solidarité, des nombreux malades guérissent.

Ensuite une deuxième partie, nous l’utilisons pour acheter la nourriture puisque nous donnons tous les jours un repas à 9.000 enfants et un millier des personnes âgées et femmes seules. Cette nourriture permet aux enfants d’aller à l’école, aux femmes seules de travailler et s’occuper de ses enfants, et aux personnes âgées de manger à leur faim, les dernières années de leur vie.

Pour cet amour, cette solidarité et ce partage effectif, concret, nous vous redisons notre gratitude et notre reconnaissance !

Nous prions le Seigneur de vous donner bonne santé, une longue vie et surtout Sa Bénédiction pour que vous soyez heureux au milieu de votre famille !

Très fraternellement !

Père Pedro

My Dear Friends!

Our 19^th Charity Night can be considered one of our best with just over 200 participants who answered God’s appeal for help for our adopted orphans and abandoned children at Akamasoa in Madagascar!

We were blessed to welcome new people attracted to the idea of sharing God’s blessings with those who were born in a part of the world abandoned to the misery of poor living conditions.

Many months of discussion and working together behind the scenes, brought the organising committee to the moment of final

Preparations.

On Friday 27^th of October, at 4pm two teams of volunteers entered the Parish Hall of All Saints at Liverpool to make the venue as welcoming as possible for the Saturday event…

Thanks to the caring attention of the Parish Priest, Fr Paul Monkerud, the hall was already tidy with a shining floor and kitchen ready to be filled with the ‘good things’ for Saturday night. It’s worthy of mention that since he became Parish Priest, we have felt very welcome!

TEAM I, was responsible for the kitchen, under the ‘new management’ of Georgette & Ramon Paltoo, helped by Paul Aloir, Jocelyne & Hervé Juste and Lindsay Marie-Jeanne prepared the fridge and installed two electrical ovens (on lease for the event, courtesy of Mario Iunius from International Ceramics).

On Saturday night they were joined by Nathalie & Jacques Govinden, Danielle & Gervais Joseph and Françoise & Clara Nourdine. Mario Iunius carefully ‘kept on eye’ on the provision of food to the buffet.

This year we greatly appreciated the generosity of those who provided an abundant variety of the best quality food: Nadia & Laurent Schwarz from C’est Si Bon, Paul Aloir, Marcienne Broudou, Pierre Brunet, Francesca Chow, Clivie Clement, Teresa Cuomo, Nathalie & Jacques Govinden, Sabra & Harry Hunt, Danielle & Gervais Joseph, Margaret Joseph, Patricia Joseph, Jocelyne & Hervé Juste, Roseby Malepa, Maryse & George Maurice, Jacqueline Mavisa, Françoise Nourdine, Eileen Noyeaux, Georgette & Ramon Paltoo, Mirella Paltoo, Monique Paltoo, Mylene Paltoo, Marina Peerbaye, Marie-Claire & Alphons Perrine, Marie Paule Sidonie, Leanne & Didier Sockeel from Ganache and Guariana Moschon & Davide Giada from Caffetteria Italia.

All the participants enjoyed real French baguettes generously offered by Florence & Steve Motte from Label Baguette.

Paul Aloir, Jeannette Beaudoin, Francesca Chow, Sinisita Filitoga, Nathalie & Jacques  Govinden, Jocelyne & Hervé Juste, Georgette & Ramon Paltoo, Marie Claire & Alphonse Perrine provided   items for the distribution of nourishment on the tables.Camilla Creugnet bought ice to keep sea food fresh for the enjoyment of the participants.

Wine for the guests of honour was provided as usual by Valore Cellars and Italian sparkling and flat water at all tables by Lamonica Homewares.

For the first time on all the 30 tables, one bottle of a quality red wine was donated by Carole Castellan from CDC Design & Drafting and Krystelle Vicary from Atmosphere Health Club.

TEAM II, was in charge of the hall preparation under the leadership of Jeannette Beaudoin. It was very well ‘tuned up team’ setting tables, decorating walls and pillars with the stage for DJ. All went smoothly thanks to our enthusiastic volunteers:  Steve Du Casse (with his sons: Jacques & Paris); Sinisita Filitoga; Michele & Bernard Fortin; Mario Iunius; Andrew Jelavic; Danielle & Anne Claire Joseph; Gino Martignago, Maryse & George Maurice; Jennifer, Lenell & Trudie Verity and Hélène & Jean-Louis Worobec.

Beautiful floral decorations for the tables were donated as usual by the ever faithful and generous Alvisio & Lauretta Olivieri from A & L Florist.

Gerard and Kevin Clement, installed the DJ system, transported within a truck made available by Wayne Fairweather of Collins Honda who generously lent it to facilitate the task. On the Charity Night Clivie joined Gerard for the music animation.

Our indefatigable Francesca Chow with a help of Malika & Peter De Zilva, Sharon & John McDivitt, and other friends of hers, successfully ran a stall well-stocked with Francesca’s own home made organic marmalade/jams from her own garden’s fruits, as well as beautiful carnations also from her garden and lot of boxes of many kinds of chocolates from Poland, graciously offered by Wojciech Serafin from Wawel Import Export.

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Celebration

On that evening, from 6 pm the guests began to slowly fill the hall welcomed by Jeannette Beaudoin and those with donations at the door, were issued receipts by Colette Cherval, Sinisita Filitoga, Lise Selvon and Sr Telesia Talalua.

Just after 7 pm Ky Chow, our MC for the event welcomed the guests of honour: Bishop Anthony Randazzo (Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Sydney), Mrs Regina Jurkowska (General Consul of Poland), Mr Antholy Knox (Honorary General Consul of Madagascar) and his wife Suzanne, Mr Pierre-Alexandre Bianconi (Vice-General Consul of France, representing General Consul of France Mr Nicolas Croizer),  Mr John Mac Coll (Honorary Councillor of the French People Abroad in Paris; President of French Assist Charity) and his wife Chantal, Sr Telesia Talalua (assisting the sick people from Wallis and Futuna in Sydney hospitals).

We enjoyed the company of Lily Schmitt (95 years) our senior guest and Asha Marianne (9 month) the youngest among us …

Before the dinner was ready, I presented a short history of Madagascar with a description of today’s situation, pointing out at the wonderful endeavour of Fr Pedro Opeka we are helping in providing him with the financial help to ensure the education of over 13000 children…

Independent auditing from 2016 showed that our help assured about 6 months of schooling (two small bowls of rice with beans a day from Monday to Friday) and basic medication when needed.

After I expressed my gratitude to all the participants as well as to all who contributed to this event, I reminded all of the reward promised by the Lord, who said that even the glass of fresh water offered to the thirsty one will never be forgotten by Him (Mt 10:42) and whatever we do to the poorest one in the world we to it to Him (Mt 25:40).

Then His Lordship Anthony Randazzo blessed our gathering with beautiful words of encouragement to all.

During the meal, going among tables, for the first time we could enjoy incredible talents of our Illusionist (Nino) who made children laughing as well as adults with his performance.

Cecilia Abrams and Sara Aouad made a wonderful presentation with pictures of their ‘ Old Girls from Tangara’  Missionary-Charity Mission in Madagascar last July. They went for two weeks to the Archdiocese of His Grace Archbishop Benjamin Ramaroson at Antsiranana (top end of the Island) where with their own financial means and skils, they founded a beautiful educational centre for the young girls and mums.

Our Elvis (Steve Du Casse) was again a cause of much enjoyment and fun!

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All pictures with date on them were taken by Jeannette Beaudoin, those without date by Pierre Bonanza (Mauritius Studio) The photos of the late Bishop Pierre Zévaco by Francesca Chow and those of ‘Old Girls from Tangara’ provided by them.  

Towards the end of the event, enjoying dessert, excitement run very high, when Creugnet Family gave away their last-minute tickets preparation to General Consul of Poland, Mrs Regina Jurkowska for drawing of the great lottery prizes first and after the lucky door one!

I’d like to thank all our prize donors and all those who bought the lottery tickets with intention of helping our poor in Madagascar and to congratulations the winners:

1. Bowerhaus* Triple Strand White pearl necklace & matching earring set valued at $2500.00 – donated by Elizabeth Lee   won by number 7338
2. Oil painting (“Summer Gestalt” 800x660mm) by David Robert Hill valued at $1600.00 – donated by  the artist.  won by number 6174 
3. Bowerhaus Triple Strand White pearl necklace & matching earring set valued at $1500.00 – donated by Elizabeth Lee,  won by number 6094 
4. Bowerhaus White round pearls necklace & matching earring set valued at $1000.00 – donated by Elizabeth Lee, won by number 2273 
5.  Gift Voucher  valued at $687 (3 Nights Midweek in a Superior King Room for 2, including breakfast and Dinner for 2 to the value of $60 at the Peninsula Nelson Bay) valid until 30th, from «Valore Cellars» won by number 6751 
6.  Voucher $500.00 donated by «Cadry’s Persian Carpets Specialists» at Edgecliff valid one year. Won by number 8122 
7.  Voucher $500.00 from Myer – donated by Nadia Fortuné, won by number 8106 
8.  Voucher $500.00 from Lamonica Homewares at Haberfield donated by Dina & Mario Iunius from International Ceramics, won by number 1749
9.  Gourmet hamper valued at $280.00 – donated by Guy Roose from «Apromo Pty Ldt».  Won by number 3110
10.  Voucher valued at $200.00 for ‘Bella Fonte’ Restaurant at Comfort Inn Hunts Liverpool valid until 31/01/18; donated by Sybra & Harry Hunt, won by number 1531
11. Voucher valued at $200.00 for ‘Bella Fonte’ Restaurant at Comfort Inn Hunts Liverpool valid until 31/01/18; donated by Sybra & Harry Hunt, won by number 5222
12. Gift Basket valued at $150.00 – donated by «GJ Food».  Voucher valued at $200.00 for ‘Bella Fonte’ Restaurant at Comfort Inn Hunts Liverpool valid until 31/01/18; donated by Sybra & Harry Hunt, won by number 2704  

13. “Dolci D’oro” humper valued at $150.00 – donated by ‘Sweet House Confectionery Pty Ltd’ , won by number 5613
14. Oil painting (“Ghost Crab”) by Louise De Marco Jelavic valued at $120 – donated by the artist, won by number 6665 
15. Gift Basket valued at $120.00 – donated by «Petersham Liquor Market». Won by number 1013
16. 2 Vouchers each valued at $50.00 donated by «Ganache Pâtisserie Française» at Castlecrag, won by number 6946                                   

The lucky door prizes were provided by our generous friends: Jeannette Beaudoin, Francesca Chow, Anne-Marie Puaud, Nadia & Laurent Schwarz and Lise Selvon.

Once again, I’d like to express my gratitude to our SFRCC organising Committee… Their dedication, hard work and perseverance with God’s help, made this event such a beautiful success, without forgetting all those who came and those who contributed through their donations.

Our only expense was $500 for the Parish Hall hire.

Up today our generous response to this year appeal in details:

Donations…………………………46,185.50                                            Lottery……………………………..18,920.00                                                                                                    Participants contributions…… …18,420.00                                            Sales…………………………………2,336.50                                                                                                           TOTAL:                                            85,862.00 

Hopefully one day we all who participate in this wonderful endeavour will hear from our Lord: “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Mt 25,23). I’m sure, that there is no greater recognition that HIS!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Fr Jan

P.S.

On the 3rd of January 2018  the sum of AUD 65,382.00   (EUR 40,196.85) was         transferred from SFRCC account to the Akamasoa account.

The rest of 19th Charity Night raised fund ($19980 less 10% for the administration fee, ie: $17982) will be transferred in due time from the Catholic Mission account to Akamasoa account.