Welcome to the website of The Joseph Curiale Foundation.

Please make sure to read all our latest news on our news page.

A welcome message from Joseph Curiale:

I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; I will not refuse to do the something I can do.

~ Helen Keller

For more than two years now, it has been an amazing journey trying to both save lives and help give new life to the very poor of India, primarily widows and orphaned girls. So much has happened since I first saw the South Indian farm widow, Anjamma, on a CNN newscast in March of 2006, concerning the farm suicide tragedy in India.

In a momentary flash of insight and inspiration, while watching the heartbreaking CNN broadcast, a scripture I once read came to mind:

“Look after orphans and widows in their tribulation…”

~ The Bible – James 1:27

So, I committed to go to India to not only pay Anjamma’s debts, but also to try to free as many of the farm widows and their children from the stranglehold of corrupt moneylenders attempting to illegally collect the debts their deceased husbands had accrued, often sexually assaulting them as “partial payment.” Others often publicly humiliate these helpless widows in the village as well, creating a hopeless situation for them, filled with despair.

“Poverty is the worst form of violence.”

~ Gandhi

Behind what many believe to be a calculated genocide, are multinational corporations who are trying to squeeze the life out of these farm families, fleece them of what little they have, steal their land, and, to add insult to injury, charge inflated prices for the pesticides that are poisoning them. For those of you who believe it’s not your problem, think again. The policies of the West, in complicity with those in power in India, along with the callous indifference of many well-positioned Indian people who could help but don’t, are taking a horrific toll on the poor farm families of India.

“If we are to reach real peace in this world and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with children”

~ Gandhi

In the process of helping the widows, I visited a girl’s orphanage and found an even greater purpose: to educate and support these absolutely pure-spirited and extraordinary children so that they can avoid the otherwise endless cycle of poverty and ignorance that surrounds them. Sounds easy, right? Not in India, with its multiple layers of corruption, indifference, cruelty, and crippling, divisive, hierarchical social, political, and religious structures. But perseverance and the support of many kind and generous donors from around the world have helped to bring about a positive transformation in many lives, including my own.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

~ Martin Luther King

What would normally be simple becomes a convoluted mess of ridiculous and unnecessary obstacles that just prolong the misery of those suffering at the hands of a terribly broken, and unjust system. Yet, I have also come across some rare jewels in India who give very unselfishly of themselves, tirelessly striving to right so many of the wrongs being committed. Journalists like Devinder Sharma and Uma Sudhir, social activist, Arvind Kejriwal who was key in the creation of the Right to Information Law passed in India; and Dr. Narasimah Rao, who treated one of my orphaned daughters with such kindness, compassion, and gentility during the surgery to correct her crippling birth defect, and in the months of aftercare, giving freely of his services. These are the real heroes of India that make me believe that somehow there is hope… And I’m sure there are a few more of these rare jewels that I have yet to meet.

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”

~ Sir Winston Churchill

In the US, two of the enduring champions of the JCF are author and lifestyle expert, Lissa Coffey, and Kristin Proctor, as well as Prashath Palakurthi and Katy and Nagesh Rao; in Japan, Geeta and Krishen Mehta, and Dan Riley; and in Singapore, Susan Low, Anna Chia, and Sathia Murthi. All of them help to create miracles. My deepest thanks to all of you and the many others who continue to support the work of the JCF.

“To love a person is to learn the song that is in their heart, and to sing it to them when they have forgotten.”

~ Anonymous

Though it often seems like an oppressive uphill battle trying to bring aid to those in need in India, I have great hope for the individuals The Joseph Curiale Foundation has set out to help. I believe in these children. With a bit of financial assistance and a lot of love they can have lives beyond their dreams, and become part of the solution to healing India’s wounds. Many of the children, from below poverty themselves, expressed their dream to to educated so that they may in turn help the poor in their villages. To hear them express this wish is powerfully moving…

“Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk.”

~ Anonymous

I deliver the help personally, with no middle people involved. I take the children by the hand, along with a guardian, and personally enroll the children in private schools, pay their school fees and board, and buy them their books, book bags, supplies, and school clothes. And I personally go from village to village asking for permission to help other children who are in greatest need. Everything is documented in photographs and video. These very special people have become my “family” and I and many of the donors care about them with the deepest love, compassion, and respect. Believe me, they are worth all the effort.

“Religion, patriotism, race, wealth, class, and every other form of arbitrary separatist identification thus conceived, has served to create a controlled population, utterly malleable in the hands of the few. Divide and conquer is the motto. And as long as people continue to see themselves as separate from everything else they lend themselves to being completely enslaved.”

~ Anonymous

People have often asked me, “Why India?” And I reply, “I did not choose India, India chose me.” Where there is a need, I try to help. I felt a calling and I responded. I look beyond all the divisive, misleading propaganda that we are indoctrinated with since birth that emphasizes our supposed differences and choose to focus on the fact that everyone is my “family,” though that sentiment is rarely reciprocated… I am more than an American. I am more than a man. I am a human being. And that is what makes me feel totally at home with everyone on this planet and makes me feel a sense of “oneness” and responsibility to help others in need despite the illusions that are perpetuated to separate us.

“A man’s true wealth is the good he does in the world.”

~ Mohammed

Let this serve as an introduction. If you care to inquire further, I have written of the work in more detail, and have included a link to a list of travel journal and photographs. Unfortunately, due to death threats, extortion attempts, and the like, I have ceased from writing of the experience in detail for security reasons, but will be happy to explain in more detail if you write to let me know of your interest.

“The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

~ Mahatma Gandhi

Please look through the website and meet Fathima, the 9 year-old orphaned girl who the JCF brought for surgery to correct a crippling birth defect. Meet many of the brave and noble farm widows: Anjamma, Sharada, Renuka, Susheela, Sayama, Dhanalakshmi and others… Watch New Delhi Television’s Special Report, “Sowing Hope,” and look through the library of photographs to meet the many orphaned and destitute girls the JCF has helped and continues to help. Also meet the children from Yokohama International School, Sacred Heart International School in Japan, and Lincoln Southeast High School in Nebraska, who have raised funds to help pay for the orphaned girl’s education. Children helping children… That is truly inspiring…

“There is opportunity to serve and he who overlooks it, robs only himself.”

~ Ancient Buddhist Philosopher

We all need help. No one succeeds alone.

I hope you will consider helping as well.

“They who give have all things; they who withhold have nothing.”

~ Hindu proverb

Joseph Curiale

CEO, The Joseph Curiale Foundation

*The Joseph Curiale Foundation is a nonprofit, nonsectarian PUBLIC BENEFIT CORPORATION registered in the State of California, for charitable purposes worldwide.