CRS has added a new urban location to its portfolio of projects: Brace Bridge. Beside the railway tracks at Brace Bridge station is Naya Bustee, a slum community of about 700 predominantly Muslim families.
CRS is partnering with a community based organization called Right Track to support this community. So far an education and women’s programmes have been started with the plan to add a health programme in due course. Find out more
Teachers from CRS’s urban and rural projects were invited to St Paul’s Cathedral in early September to celebrate Teachers’ Day. The Assistant Presbyter of the Cathedral and members of the CRS Executive Committee led the celebrations to thank the teachers for their service – then everyone enjoyed sharing cake!
Residents of the Gobinda Banerjee Lane community had the opportunity of a free eye test recently. CRS held the event in partnership with G.K.B.Optical. Those who needed spectacles were given them free of charge.
CRS has been working in Mahamaya, a small village in the 24 South Parganas district of West Bengal about two hours’ drive south from Kolkata, since 2012.
A training session was held recently on garment making, giving women who attend the CRS women’s empowerment programme in the village, new skills and the chance to practice making clothing items on sewing machines.
A group of women subsequently travelled into the city for a day’s training on quality control. At the Nari Dana Production Centre they learned how to sew and embroider products with precision, and how to ensure conformity of quality and style.
CRS is currently raising funds to complete construction of a multi-purpose building in Mahamaya and expand activities there.
The ground floor is already in existence, used as a school in the morning and by women’s groups the afternoon.
The vision is to have three floors to accommodate the school, a medical clinic, and a workspace for the women to make products
CRS welcomed visitors from the Council of World Mission in June. They visited the projects at Dum Dum and Sukantanagar, as well as the Nari Dana production centre.