"I feel very sad when I see the homeless and poor people around us. So I join my dad and mum to help them out by picking empty bottles from the roadside. I like doing it every evening after school," says eight-year-old Evangeline Georgi.
Adelaide based Evangeline joins her parents Georgi Thomas, Minu Georgi and four-year-old younger brother to collect recyclable bottles and cans from the roadside with the sole intention, they say, of lending a hand to the community around them.
Bottles, cans and all types of recyclable products are collected that can earn them 10 cents each when returned through various South Australian collection depots.
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“There are a number of people who live in starvation. Some don't even have shelter to lay their head. So why not help such fellow beings in Australia and India? This thought that was pestering my mind had sparked this idea." Georgi Thomas told SBS Malayalam.
"I then thought lending a hand to the needy from the resources available around us was the best possible way to put this idea into practice.”
The concept persuaded Georgi to launch a charity project named “10 cents 4 A Family” a registered organisation nine months back in January 2019.
From then on, Georgi and family who work full time make sure to spare a few hours every day to fill their bags with bottles, cans and all sorts of recyclable products which are being disposed of in the streets. For this small family with a bright concept, every 10 cents count.
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“Initially I didn’t expect this much of return from these empty bottles. But now there are people who collect bottles and cans only to give them to us. A lady in our nearby street waits for us to pick them before keeping her recycle bin for weekly kerbside collection.”
“Now we collect more than 1,200 bottles in a week and in return get 100-200 dollars as a refund which is a way too big amount, especially when helping the poor back in India. There are even times we have collected 500 dollars in a week," adds Georgi.
The family firmly supports the concept of 'transforming bottles into food'.
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"We support the Childhood Cancer Association, Mission Australia, Red Cross and Salvation Army with an amount bearable to us. We have paid towards the medical bills of a two-year-old girl who was treated for blood cancer in Adelaide," tells Georgi.
Childhood Cancer Association's Community Relationships Manager Kate McKeegan told SBS Malayalam that Georgi approached them and asked if he could donate to Childhood Cancer Association. In August this year, he donated a few hundred dollars which he earned from collecting used bottles and cans.
"He does an amazing job and he is so generous for the timely support he renders, adds Kate.
Georgi not only aims to help people in Australia. But also extends his support to help many in India, his homeland.
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“We make sure to keep aside a certain percentage of amount for Australia and India. We have started a kindergarten at Thane in Mumbai, India that provides free education and free food to the kids there. Also, we have supplied food to a village in West Bengal.”
In addition to this, he is now in the process of looking to extend his work to those in need in Uganda.
The kindergarten in Thane started by Georgi Thomas Source: Supplied
A few restaurants and pubs in Adelaide have also come forward by collecting beverage bottles, coke cans, etc before handing them over to the family at the end of each week.
"Car boot and garage stinks"
Plentiful bags of used empty bottles stored in Georgi’s garage has sometimes invited unwanted pests into his home.
“We feel hesitant to offer a lift to a friend whom we meet on roads. Because the inside of the car often smells.
"However, after we witnessed the poor children at the streets of Thane in Mumbai who were trying to grab a piece of choc chip cookie from the sewerage, we felt that the foul smell in our car is nothing when compared to sufferings of the poor children who live their lives in the rubble."
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"We then decided to move on with our project without a second thought."
What does Georgi feel he gets out of his mission?
“I believe if we could at least wipe one person’s tear off, then our hard work is been paid off.”
