What we do

We raise donations by asking individual Cdn. Friends/CCRS to collect their spare change. We then send 100% of the donations to the Board and Executive Director of the Cathedral Relief Service (CRS). The Canadian donation is applied to projects and programs designed and delivered by CRS to the most destitute of the underprivileged members of society in the City of Kolkata and surrounding villages.

As a registered non-profit Society in Canada we partner with CRS, a registered, non-profit, secular organization that has been operating in Kolkata since its inception in 1974.

The risks are high for the poor families served by CRS, many of whom live in slums, in rural villages, or on the sidewalks of Kolkata. Risks include hunger and thirst, child labour, illiteracy, child abandonment, abuse and battery of women, child exploitation and trafficking, alcoholism, drug addiction, disease, and hopelessness.

What You Should Know

  • Neither the Cdn. Friends/CCRS, nor its parent organization in Kolkata, the Cathedral Relief Service (CRS), proselytize or evangelize.
  • CRS serves all people regardless of age, religion, gender, caste, race, ethnicity, ability/disability, or occupation.
  • CRS serves those who are Hindu, Christian, Muslim or people who follow other, or no, faiths.
  • CRS’s programmes are delivered to Bengali migrants, Hindustani migrants and Bangladeshi refugees, among others in the city’s slums and impoverished villages in rural areas.
  • CRS is headquartered in offices on the grounds of St. Paul’s Anglican Cathedral (founded in 1847), “the City’s Cathedral”.
  • The Cdn. Friends/CCRS is not incorporated by the Canadian Revenue Agency in Ottawa. Receipts issued to donors are for record-keeping purposes.
  • The Cdn. Friends/CCRS is registered as a Society with the Province of British Columbia, and as such is governed by a five person Board of Directors, and must abide by the Bylaws.
  • The Directors of the Cdn. Friends/CCRS pays all administrative costs of the charity so every cent donated goes directly to serve those in need in Kolkata. If any travel, international or otherwise is taken by the Directors, no donations underwrite the cost of travel. All travel costs, and any associated costs, are the responsibility of the travelling Director/s.

      Below is a list of what the Cdn. Friends/CCRS does not do:

    • use professional fundraisers;
    • receive government grants;
    • solicit by telephone or over the internet;
    • sell, trade or by any other means use your name/contact information; or
    • spend any donated funds on administration or travel or the annual Tea event.