Cuddalore – St. Joseph’s Evening School celebrated the Pongal feast and Republic day on January 26th. Children from four different branches gathered for the fruitful and memorable event. All the children had very joyful moments throughout the day. There were around 120 together with the children, teachers and parents. The national flag was hoisted by Fr. Mathias, SdC, chief guest of the day. Afterwards he encouraged the children to always be happy, kind hearted and talented persons in their accomplishments and to aim for a bright future. Then the Pongal Celebration started. Games and sports were organized for the students, teachers and parents like pot breaking, rongoli for parents, musical chairs and many other competitions for the children. Then children from each branch presented their programs. Fr. Mathias, Fr. Anandhan and Fr. Amalraj distributed gifts for all the ninety students. Then they also distributed prizes for the winners of different competitions. Finally, Fr. Arockia Raj, the evening school director, thanked the gathering and encouraged the new branch students and teachers to make use of the opportunity for a better future. At the end, everyone enjoyed the sweet Pongal, sugarcane, tea and puffs. Thus the day went on happily and successfully.
Cuddalore – On March 22nd, to conclude the academic year, Annual Day was celebrated with the Evening School Children in the auditorium of St. Joseph’s Seminary. The celebration began with the welcome address given by the rector of the seminary, Fr. Assisi. Fr. Amal Raj, vice-rector of the seminary, was also present and Sr. Maria, Principal of St. Mary’s Mat. High Secondary School was the chief guest. In her speech, Sr. Maria spoke about the Evening School as a great opportunity for the children as well as for their families. She invited the children to make good use of it for a better future. One of the parents shared her feelings and her gratitude to the Institute and to St. Guanella for the precious service given to their children. Fr. Assisi distributed prizes for various the competitions: regular attendance, best student, best attitude. After the vote of thanks given by Fr. Arockia Raj, Annual Day concluded by sharing a delicious meal. The children were very happy. They made the celebration much more joyful with their cultural programs.
Cuddalore – March 11th was a great day for St. Joseph’s Evening School, the children, teachers, staff and Fr. Arockia Raj went on an outing. The tour began with an amazing boat trip through the canals of Pichavaram Mangrove Forest. The second stop was at Poombuhar where everyone ate lunch and enjoyed taking photos at the sea. But the best part of the day was when they reached Tharangambadi beach: the children were so happy and joyful, playing in the waves and sand, collecting seashells, and running on the seashore. When it came time to leave, it was really hard to get them out of the water. Everyone enjoyed the entire day, every place they visited and playing songs, singing and dancing during the travel. They arrived home that night, tired but happy to have spent a wonderful day out.
Cuddalore – “Intelligence plus Character formation is the Goal of our Education”. St. Joseph’s Evening School for the year 2017 – 2018 was solemnly inaugurated on July 15th by Fr. Visuwasam, Superior of the Cuddalore Community, in the eminent presence of Fathers in charge of the evening school both past and present and other community fathers. This education program is mainly to assist and enhance the moral and academic formation of the poor children in the area. Fr. Visuwasam with his kind words thanked the previous in charge, Fr. Amalraj, for his tremendous work and achievements and welcomed the new in charge, Fr. S. Arockia Raj, to lead the group. In his message, Fr. S. Arockia Raj revealed his beautiful plan for this year’s education program, “Intelligence plus Character formation equals the Goal of our Education. Let us educate the poor to excel.”
Cuddalore – March 6th was a special day for the children from St. Joseph’s Evening School. To close the Academic Year they had a grand valedictory function with many events: skill development competitions, prize distributions, culturals and dinner. The celebration was headed by Fr. Visuwasam, and Fr. Assisi. The students were very happy and felt at home in the Guanellian atmosphere. To keep improving the evening school program, an assessment of this Academic Year and its objectives was conducted. With its guidance there were some concrete proposals and suggestions to implement in the coming years.
Cuddalore – The students of St. Joseph’s Evening School went on a day long picnic and excursion to Pondicherry. This educational picnic equipped the children with knowledge on different educational dimensions. It helped them discover ways to develop their fraternity, friendship and more over to relax and refresh themselves from crushing works from school, tasks of tuition, and other miscellaneous obligations. Thanks to ASCI group for their care and concern for these poor faces of Jesus.
Cuddalore – St. Joseph’s Evening School and Don Guanella Boys Home were privileged to spend quality time with members of ASCI, the charitable movement from Italy. The representatives were Mr. Eduardo and Ms. Maura. The children from impoverished slums and poor family backgrounds were so happy to be with the people who assist their basic education. As a token of love, the students from both programs prepared a colorful cultural program for the sponsors and gave them a memorable gift. During the celebration the guests through their message invited the students to be rich in their moral and intellectual excellence, to be responsible in their daily duties and to be faithful and grateful to the life and gifts God has given to them through various persons. The event ended with a fraternal Mirriandaa, sharing refreshments. The day was truly a witness of God’s love and Providence.
Cuddalore – “The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.” St. Joseph’s Evening School celebrated “Children’s Day” on November 14th at St. Joseph’s Seminary. The event was filled with God’s grace. Fr. Francis Assisi, Rector of St. Joseph’s Seminary, was the chief guest of the program. A variety of skits, dances, speeches and singing elicited the students and exhilarated their parents and the audience. To further engage the students, some games were played. To acknowledge their skillful performances, relevant prizes were distributed by Fr. Francis, Fr. Amal Raj and Fr. Anandhan. The teachers cooperated for the success of the celebration. The children were very happy as evidenced by their smiles.
Cuddalore – St. Joseph’s Evening School academic year 2016–2017 was solemnly inaugurated on June 15th at St. Joseph’s Seminary. Fr. Francis Assisi, SdC, Rector of St. Joseph’s Seminary, the past and present directors of the program and other priests from the community attended the ceremony. Fr. Francis thanked the previous director, Fr. Maria Paul, SdC, for his tremendous work and achievements and welcomed the new director, Fr. Amalraj, SdC, to lead the group. Fr. Francis said that this tuition program is mainly to enhance the moral and academic formation of the poor children of the area. Fr. Amalraj revealed his annual plan for the program, “Intelligence plus Character formation – the Goal of our Education.” He also said that all students must strive hard to be ‘their best’ in everything, because that is the greatest gift one can offer to God. Let us educate the poor to excel, it is God’s commission. After cultural presentations and refreshments the program ended.
Cuddalore – “Art is an imagination of mind”. These words inspired the St. Joseph’s Evening School children to display their talents in a drawing competition on November 20th. They were divided into four groups and given a theme. Keeping the theme in mind, the children drew pictures using their imagination. The teachers and Fr. Maria Paulraj encouraged them with their presence and provided them drawing materials and snacks. After the competition, individual photos and a group photo were taken. The judges announced the winners, the children thanked the teachers and directors. The event ended after a short prayer.
Cuddalore – St. Joseph’s Evening School celebrated the Pongal feast and Republic day on January 26th. Children from four different branches gathered for the fruitful and memorable event. All the children had very joyful moments throughout the day. There were around 120 together with the children, teachers and parents. The national flag was hoisted by Fr. Mathias, SdC, chief guest of the day. Afterwards he encouraged the children to always be happy, kind hearted and talented persons in their accomplishments and to aim for a bright future. Then the Pongal Celebration started. Games and sports were organized for the students, teachers and parents like pot breaking, rongoli for parents, musical chairs and many other competitions for the children. Then children from each branch presented their programs. Fr. Mathias, Fr. Anandhan and Fr. Amalraj distributed gifts for all the ninety students. Then they also distributed prizes for the winners of different competitions. Finally, Fr. Arockia Raj, the evening school director, thanked the gathering and encouraged the new branch students and teachers to make use of the opportunity for a better future. At the end, everyone enjoyed the sweet Pongal, sugarcane, tea and puffs. Thus the day went on happily and successfully.
Servants of Charity 