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MONTFORT COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SOCIETY (MCDS), PALLAVARAM

Montfort Community Development Society is an initiative of the Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel, Province of Bengaluru, South India. MCDS is a humble but sincere attempt to follow the example of St. Louis de Montfort (1673 – 1716), Founder of the Montfort Brothers’ Organization. He equated service of God with service of man, particularly the poor and the disabled.

 It is an Integrated Community Development Programme reaching out to thousands of downtrodden and underprivileged people in the slums of Chennai and its neighbourhood as well as in slum relocated areas.

 MCDS firmly believes that every child that is helped to learn, every woman helped to stand on her own feet, the love and concern shown to an elder, every tear of a sick child wiped, add to the quality of life. That is the way, the only way, to change the world.

 MCDS has come a long way since its inception in 1996. MCDS began as an NGO reaching out to children with disabilities and as of today it is among the larger of its kind in the country. It was started by Late Rev. Bro. Gerard Patrick, the Founder Director who continued his service till his last breath on 7th April 2015.

 After the demise of Late Rev. Bro. Patrick, the Province of Bengaluru has taken charge of this mission and appointed Rev. Bro. Joseph Louis as Director from May 2015, ably assisted by Rev. Bro. Mathew Kuplicat of Hyderabad Province until 2020 when he was called back to his Province. MCDS remains grateful to him for his guidance and dedication.

MCDS Vision

Make the world a better place for the less privileged, particularly women and children with disabilities.

MCDS Mission

Endeavour to attain MCDS’ vision through…

  1. Focus on community development as a process of sustainable development.
  2. Community Health care for underprivileged people from slums and those displaced from urban slums
  3. Educate children in difficult circumstances through Supervised Study centres
  4. Empower women through Skill Training and Entrepreneurship Programmes.
  5. Care for the Aged through the Senior Citizens’ Forum.

Founder

Rev. Bro. Patrick was a dedicated member of the Montfort Brothers of St. Gabriel, in the Yercaud Province of South India, where he devoted approximately twenty-five years to disability rehabilitation and Integrated Community Development. He served as head of the St. Louis Institute for the Deaf and the Blind in Adyar, Chennai, for eleven years, during which he transformed the high school sections for visually and hearing-impaired students into higher secondary levels and established Asia’s first College exclusively for the hearing impaired, affiliated to the University of Madras. His commitment to individuals with disabilities extended beyond his administrative role, as he initiated a unit for the mentally challenged and later engaged in community rehabilitation programmes.

Before his tenure at St. Louis Institute, Bro. Patrick was actively involved with several Educational Institutions, including Montfort Hr. Sec. School in Yercaud, RSK Hr. Sec. School in Trichy, and St. Joseph’s Hr. Sec. School in Chengalpattu. His passion for sports and physical fitness has positively impacted countless youth, fostering both their physical well-being and character development. Under his leadership, MCDS has much expanded since 1996 to become one of the largest Integrated Community Development Programmes in India.

MCDS Director

Rev. Bro. Joseph Louis had a long stint at Montfort School, Yercaud, lasting about fifteen years, the last five years as Principal of this prestigious Institution. He was also Principal of RSK Higher Secondary School, Trichy. His contact with the alumni of these Schools prompted the Provincial Administration of the Province of Yercaud to appoint him as Director of MCDS to succeed Rev. Bro. Patrick on his demise on 7th April 2015. Bro. Joseph Louis earlier had a stint of five years in schools for the differently abled, spread between two years at St. Louis Institute Chennai and at the School for the Hearing impaired inBelagola town, near Mysore.

Programmes

  • Care of Eighty mentally challenged children/youth through Community Based Rehabilitation Programme (CBR) and TenHome based Rehabilitation (HBR) programmes through its four Centres at Pattinapakkam, Kannagi Nagar, Chemmencherry and Perumbakkam.
  • Community Health Care through MCDS Mobile Clinic on wheels and Health Awareness programmes like Eye Screening, HIV, Cancer, First Aid, Multi-Medical Camps, Health and Hygiene etc. in collaboration with Healthcare providers.
  • Women Empowerment – Empowering women through Women’s Self Help Groups.
  • Vocational Skill Tailoring Training Centre, New Perumbakkam, for the underprivileged – recently MCDS has successfully completed Nine batches with Twenty Trainees per batch and the Tenth batch final examination is scheduled for the second week of February 2025.
  • Senior Citizens’ Forum – care of senior citizens with regular Yoga, Exercise, Dance, Story Telling, etc., giving them the chance to be relieved of the drudgery of old age and loneliness.

Click here for the Website: https://www.mcdschennai.org