More that 40 years ago, a group of social workers from Ponda village would meet… and the discussion would often move to the predictable ‘This is not how things should be’.

One day they resolved to do something about it. And that is how the individuals – Madhav Talaulicar, Shantaram Sarjyotishi, Savita Ramnathkar, Madhukar Dixit, Jaganath Ghanekar, Anant Kulkarni and Dr Rajaram Priolkar, among others – embarked on a journey, started in 1976, comprising welfare for the children of unwed mothers. Stopping child infanticide, counter-child trafficking and child rehabilitation.

Small intervention became defining. An abandoned two-year old boy at Sanvordem railway station sheltered by a Matruchhaya founder helped kick start the Matruchhaya family home. The fact that the child’s birth was registered in the village panchayat, brought up as a family member and named after a family ancestor comprised some of Matruchhaya’s values.

Today, Matruchhaya is a full-fledged home for more than 75 destitute or orphan girls; on onsite nursery addresses the needs of toddlers

Demonstrating that when you combine help with sensitivity and
Philanthropy with thoughtfulness, enduring things begin to happen.

An orphanage was built in Dhavali, the plot for the first Matruchhaya building was provided by Shree Shantadurga Devasthan of Kavalem. A trust was first registered with prominent philanthropists as trustees – Vasudev Salgaocar, Madhav Talaulikar and Gurudas Timblo. Later, Vasudev Dempo joined the trust as its President