Saint Alphonsus Social and Agricultural Centre, or SASAC for short, was started by Father J.M. Abraham, a Jesuit missionary from Canada, some thirty years back. The motto of SASAC is “Helping the poor to help themselves”. Since hunger is the root cause of the many problems of the majority of the rural poor in India, SASAC’s main thrust has always been in food production – vegetables, mushrooms, piggery and dairy. Over the past 30 years, SASAC has been engaged in passing on to the poor village farmers of Kurseong, Darjeeling and the neighbouring states “appropriate technology” so that they can produce enough to feed their own families and the local communities around them. Other projects SASAC is involved in includes:


~ planting of 50 – 60 thousand trees every year
~ use of animal waste to produce methane gas (Bio Gas) as alternative fuel
~ supply of gas stoves and pressures cookers to poor families to check deforestation
~ water harvesting
~ use of solar energy for heating water
~ Homes for the Homeless
~ Medical help to the poor
~ education of poor village children (academic & vocational)
~ empowerment of women through employment