A section of former boarders, who stayed at the Ramakrishna Mission Calcutta Students’ Home, Belgharia, northeast Kolkata, in the 1980s, donated Rs 8.66 lakh on Sunday.
The interest earned from the corpus will help the home in taking care of a student coming from an underprivileged family.
The contribution was made by the students of 1983-88 batch some of whom teach at colleges, schools.
They thought of giving it back to the home that played a part in making them successful in life.
The six former boarders from the batch, who went to Belgharia to hand over the contribution to Swami Ekavratananda, the secretary of the home, included Birupaksha Ray, who came from Brno in Czech Republic.
“Had I not been allowed to stay at a very nominal cost in the home, I would not have been able to complete my studies. We pooled resources to help the home,” said Ray.
During his stay at the home, he completed his graduation at Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Centenary College, Rahara.
Upendranath Nandi, a professor of physics at Scottish Church College who had donated Rs 50,000 that he won from the Indian National Science Academy, to Sargachi Ramakrishna Mission School in December, used to stay at the home in Belgharia.
He, too, pursued Class XII and undergraduate from the college in Rahara.
The 1983 Madhyamik graduate from Sargachi Ramakrishna Mission School said: “As the school helped me pursue my studies, the home let me stay free of cost. It is our obligation to pay back to the organisation that has done so much of handholding”.
The endowment was made in the name of “Srimat Swami Skandananda” who used to look after the cooking division of the home. “He always ensured that we were fed with care,” said Nandi.
The home, established in 1916, provides accommodation to 110 students at the HS level and college level at present
Swami Ekavratananda, the secretary of the home, said a large section of students stay either free of cost or pay bare minimum (Rs 500).
“Contribution from the former students will encourage us to continue to serve,” he said.
The home holds an entrance test to choose the boarders.