Selfless Circle

Every week a group of ladies with a social conscience meet at a club and pool together sums of money to create a corpus which is used, at the end of the year, to help the less privileged. "Each one plays host in rotation and each one contributes as per her wish,” Piloo R. Soonawala explained to Parsiana. She is a member of the Social Service Circle, an informal group which was formed in 1975 when three ladies decided to put aside in a box something out of their savings every month, plus an additional something for every good occasion, plus work money from the things they made and sold. At the end of the year they donated the money to Parsi charitable institutions.

Over the years the Circle has managed to contribute lakhs of rupees to deserving charities. For instance, in March this year The Bomanjee Dinshaw Petit Parsee General Hospital received rupees three lakhs, while the Masina Hospital and the Sir J. J. Charity Fund (for patients in the J. J. Hospital Parsi Ward) received Rs 1.5 lakh each. Since 1995 recipients have included the Athornan Mandal, Cama Athornan Educational Fund, World Zoroastrian Organisation, Dadar Parsi Youth Assembly, Sir JJPB (Jamsetji Jejeebhoy Parsi Boys) Institute, N. N. and R. N. Wadia Trust and deserving students who have received gift scholarships.

This year members of the Circle intend to hold a sale of new and used household articles to help Parsi patients in the free wards of the Parsee General Hospital and other hospitals, as well as Parsi students. The sale will be held on Saturday, November 3, 2007 on the ground floor of the premises at 209 Dr D. N. Road, Bombay 400001 from 10.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m. People are requested to send the ladies any new or used household articles, or donations in cash or by cheque drawn in favor of the "Selfless Service Circle.” Also welcome are new members on payment of an annual subscription of Rs 250. Those interested may please contact Jer K. Bardi at S-15, Cusrow Baug, S. B. Singh Road, Colaba, Bombay 400039 (tel: 22840772); Gul Engineer at Augustus Villa, 21, Hughes Road, Bombay 400007; Dhanoo Khusrokhan at 1, Wyoming, Little Gibbs Road, Malabar Hill, Bombay 400006 (tel: 23632878); and Soonawala at 121, Khushnuma, Carmichael Road, Bombay 400026 (tel: 23510065).