Time to dish up SODA dinner
Fundraiser helps those in need in India
When physiotherapist Hilary Crowley started traveling to India, it was ultimately to help children with polio and the devastating affects the disease had on their bodies. That was in 1994.
“I spent a year there training local people in the community to do physiotherapy during the height of the polio epidemic,” Crowley said. “I had five people to train when I first got there and by the end of the year I had trained 12 and now there are 28 working in the program.”
More than two decades later, Crowley is still making the trip to India but because polio isn’t a threat there anymore, the program is now focused on preschool-aged children and young adults with spinal cord injuries.
“This experience has changed my life completely,” Crowley said. “Since that first year I was so impressed with the dedication of the people who work there and the appreciation of the families that we worked with.”
Crowley is the founder of the Samuha Overseas Development Association (SODA), which is a development organization that works with those in need in South India to improve their quality of life.
“I just wanted to stay involved and the year after I got back was when I started SODA,” Crowley said of the local non-profit society.
She started taking physiotherapy and occupational therapy students to India in 2001.
“Since then they’ve come back and have now graduated as therapists and several of them help with the fundraising in the communities they live in also,” Crowley explained.
The goal for the association is to raise funds to support the program geared for those with disabilities and the society has committed to raising $20,000 annually. Each year through efforts like the SODA fundraiser featuring an Indian buffet, entertainment and silent auction the society has raised as much as $40,000 a year, Crowley said. During the fundraising event there is also a slideshow presented to the audience showcasing SODA’s work with the disabled in India.
“It’s just amazing how generous people are when they see the need and they know that every cent they donate is going directly to the program,” she said, adding that everyone who travels to India uses their own money to get there and every aspect of the society is volunteer based.
This year’s SODA event will be held Saturday at the Hart Crown Banquet Hall.
Silent auction items include a traditional Indian dinner for 10, a weekend at a cabin on Summit Lake and handmade items from India, as well as a variety of gift certificates to many local restaurants.
It’s mandatory to reserve seats by emailing soda.sec@gmail.com or calling 250-617-3464. Admission is by donation.
For more information about the cause visit www.samuha.ca.