IBS Software Honours a Good Samaritan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
IT major IBS Software honoured a catering woman of Kumbalangi village by handing her Rs 1 lakh for the selfless act of slipping 100-rupee notes inside the food packets she prepared for flood-hit people of nearby Chellanam village last month.

Senior officials of IBS Software visited Mary Sebastian at her residence on Monday and handed over a cheque for the amount along with a citation. IBS Software hailed Mary’s act as a “remarkable gesture by a disadvantaged woman without any expectation of recognition or reward.”

“During the bleak times that we are in, such inspirational stories come as a breath of fresh air,” said V K Mathews, Executive Chairman of the company he founded at Thiruvananthapuram in 1997. “They reinforce our faith in humanity.”

The CSR initiative comes as a salute to 56-year-old Mary, whose husband V Sebastianis into repairing boats. The couple was jobless in this monsoon owing to lockdown restrictions to check COVID-19.

Amid the extreme hardship, rains in August inundated the neighbouring Chellanam panchayat. As the civic authority initiated a flood relief programme, Mary joined voluntarily by organising food packets from her meagre resources. What she did unannounced was to keep a Rs-100 note along with the packetforthe recipient “to make tea during the cold, wet days”.

Mary’s food packet ended up in the surplus pool, and hence did not get distributed. The police engaged in the relief operation noticed the currency note and traced the benefactor. Mary’s compassion found extensive report: first in the social media and then by newspapers, TV channels and websites.