Parkdale Family Recovery Fund

Update 12/24/2018:

Thank you so so much to everyone who has donated and shared this campaign. I will be taking time to personally thank each of you and will post a video update with Lalitha in the coming week so you can all hear first-hand of the difference you are making to this family's situation.

The campaign has really taken off in the past two days and I have to give a big thanks to my friend Kevin as well as the Parkdale Community Updates group for sharing this story and making sure it gets the exposure needed to make a positive change. My goal in creating this campaign was to help support a family in need, as well as connect people in my own community. I can say with a happy heart that I am humbled by the results so far and am looking forward to how this hopeful story might continue to reach people.

With lots of love for this community,

Leah 
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Hello there,

My name is Leah (pictured right). On Nov. 26 my apt in Parkdale, where I have lived in relative peace and safety for four years, was broken into and everything of notable value was taken. This was a devastating loss for me and I felt violated and fairly scared in the aftermath of this crime.

The very next day on Tues, Nov 27, Lalitha (left) Panchakarla left her apt to pick up her son from school. She was gone for only half an hour, but in this time, two men ransacked her family’s home and took everything they have worked for over the past few years, including laptops, phones, citizenship and education documents from India, cash, her son’s Nintendo, his prescription glasses (???) and tablet. The burglars destroyed their home, pulling out and rifling through everything, destroying the Pooja Mandir that Lalitha prays in front of every morning and taking offerings meant for their Gods. Some of these items are irreplaceable, like Lalitha’s wedding jewellery. Others will be extremely difficult, very expensive and time consuming to replace, like all of the the citizenship and education documents from India, including proof of Lalitha’s MBA, which she had hoped to transfer to and update in a Canadian school. The total losses documented in their case report came in at $20,000, and I am aiming to recover all of it, or more if the public’s generosity allows it.

I met the Panchakarla’s when we both reached out to a business owner in the area about our stolen computers, who then put us in contact. I was struggling myself and found support in coming together with people in my community who are experiencing similar losses. The two cases are very similar and we feel as if the same people very well could have targeted both our homes.

What I also realized is this family is facing obstacles that I can’t imagine. The Panchakarla’s have no family here, they have only been here for two years and sacrificed a lot to move here so their son might have a better future, a story that is familiar to many immigrant parents and families. Lalitha shared with me all of the ways in which her and her husband Srini had been careful with money so their son Venkat could eventually go to University here, while along the way having a well-rounded upbringing, which includes various religious studies, doing a mean floss, karate classes and playing his Nintendo Switch, a Christmas gift from last year that is now unaccounted for.

Something that I was shocked but not necessarily surprised by was the manner in which this family was addressed by police on the day of the robbery. Police were called at 3:30pm and did not arrive until around 10:30 pm. When presented with images of the people who committed this crime, from security stills that are quite clear, Lalitha and Srini were told “there’s nothing that can be done”, and also that “this isn’t a priority as there is no violence involved”. How is it in any way appropriate to say to someone that their entire life’s work being stolen isn’t a priority? I was not spoken to this way during my investigation and would have been extremely upset and felt even more hopeless if I had. South Parkdale is one of the poorest areas in the city of Toronto but the people here deserve to be treated with decency, sympathy and respect when facing trauma, without exception. 

I know the holidays are a financially tight time for everyone, but we all know at the core this time of year is about giving to those in need if we are able. I have spent time with the Panchakarla family and can see the trouble they are facing that is in no way their fault.
I can slowly get back on track as I am only supporting myself; but this family needs a miracle right now, and I know in my heart that there are as many people in this world who have kindness for strangers in need, as there are those who would steal from and take advantage of the vulnerable.

Thank you to everyone who read this whole thing and if you decide to donate I really can not express the amount of gratitude and appreciation I have for you.  I will post updates with the family as donations are received!

Happy Holidays, 

Leah Hesketh