When donations dried up during the Covid pandemic, Shivaji and Prema Lazarus were left with a choice they had never imagined making — mortgage and sell their jewellery to keep 23 children fed. The couple had been running Miracle Manna Ministry, a home for orphaned and homeless children in Bengaluru, since 2011. By 2021, the home had grown from two children to 23 — 12 girls and 11 boys. But the pandemic left the family struggling to pay even basic bills.In August 2020, the couple raised Rs 5 lakh by mortgaging and selling their jewellery. The money lasted about six months and was largely needed to put food on the table. Months later, a crowdfunding campaign would raise Rs 53 lakh for the children.
From two children to 23
The story of Miracle Manna began more than two decades ago. A cousin of Shivaji had abandoned his three children and wife on the streets. Shivaji took them in and raised the children himself. The experience stayed with the couple. “We realised there are so many more children like them on the roads. We wanted to take care of them,” Prema told TOI. The couple eventually started Miracle Manna with two children in 2011. By April 2021, 23 children were living with them. Prema cooked for the children, while their daughter Gracy handled their teaching. What had started as a small effort had become a home that needed around Rs 22 lakh a year to run, including rent, bills and school fees.
Pandemic left the family without electricity
The financial strain intensified during the pandemic. Shivaji had lost his full-time job as a driver even before Covid, while his part-time work also stopped. Gracy, then 28, lost her job as a preschool teacher. Donations to the home also dried up. The family eventually fell behind on its electricity bills, leaving the home without power for four months. In the kitchen, they had to cut costs further, removing eggs and milk from the children’s meals. The Rs 5 lakh raised through the jewellery lasted roughly six months, but it was nowhere near enough to cover the home’s annual expenses. “We had run out of all options and were just praying to god. But we never thought of shutting down the home,” Gracy told TOI.
Crowdfunding campaign raises Rs 53 lakh
Help came after GiveIndia, which had Miracle Manna listed as a partner, learnt about the family’s financial situation. A crowdfunding campaign was launched on March 9, 2021. By April 15 the campaign had raised Rs 53 lakh. Its target was Rs 66 lakh, with GiveIndia saying the aim was to provide the home financial security for at least a couple of years amid the continuing Covid situation. The family had received Rs 14 lakh from the amount raised by then and used some of it to clear dues, including school fees. But the financial crisis had not completely ended. Prema’s jewellery was still under mortgage and more bills remained to be paid.
A home that refused to shut down
The contrast was stark: less than a year earlier, the couple had to turn to their own jewellery to raise Rs 5 lakh simply to feed the children. By April 2021, a public crowdfunding campaign had brought in Rs 53 lakh. The money offered the home some breathing room, but the reason behind the campaign went back to the couple’s decision years earlier to take in children who had nowhere else to go.
