Arlington Heights is about as far from rural India — both in distance and in lifestyle — as one can get. Tucked into Chicago’s northwest suburbs, Arlington Heights is quaint and idyllic. With its youth soccer games, ma-and-pa stores and historic downtown, the village seems to have dropped off a Normal Rockwell canvas and onto the Chicago-area landscape. In the rural villages of southern India, there is little established commerce and little of historic note, save the oral histories that flow from the mouths of the elderly to the ears of the young. It is a slice of the world where the Industrial Revolution has yet to take root, a slice of the world where needs runs high. There is seemingly nothing that connects these two worlds, nothing that links Arlington Heights to these pastoral villages halfway around the globe. And yet, they are connected — if only by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Since 2002, the Foundation for Children in Need, the nonprofit creation of Tom Chitta and Geetha Yeruva that raises funds to support the destitute of India’s rural villages, has been housed in Arlington Heights and closely aligned with St. James Parish. “Without the support of this parish and [the pastor, Father Bill Zavaski], we would not be where we are; their support is vital to our work,” Chitta said of St. James. As Chitta and Yeruva sought a U.S. base for FCN, they approached Zavaski and asked if St. James could help with temporary housing as they did their appeal work in the States. Zavaski welcomed the opportunity to have mission work headquartered on his parish’s soil and to introduce the organization to parishioners. “This was a wonderful opportunity for us to network with a Third World operation,” Zavaski said. “With FCN’s presence, people in our parish could extend their ministry beyond local borders and become connected to a place thousands of miles away.” Reciprocal relationship In staying with a variety of host families in Arlington Heights, FCN’s founding couple became embedded in St. James life, attending daily Mass and making regular mission appeals to the parish community. Steadily, a reciprocal relationship was born and St. James rallied around the grassroots organization. “Something about St. James drew [Chitta and Yeruva] in and something about their organization attracted many of us as well,” said Jo Anne Mullen-Muhr, a St. James parishioner who now heads FCN’s board of directors. In the eight years FCN has called Arlington Heights home, time that has seen FCN establish several schools and boarding homes for boys and girls, a community health center and a home for the aged, the St. James Parish has been an active, involved and dedicated supporter of the organization’s work. Various parishioners volunteer with FCN’s administrative tasks, such as mailings, phone calls and filing. Three years ago, St. James parishioner Cathy McQuillan, a retired teacher, began going into the office once a week to record donations. “I was moved by what FCN was doing, particularly for the elderly and with children on both education and health,” said McQuillan, who is among 70 parish householders who sponsor a child, addressing that individual’s basic needs for $240 a year. “I feel connected to this work, which is Goddriven and moves the soul.” “There’s a real and tangible connection to the mission because FCN is right here next to us. Few of us have the ability to do mission work in a Third World country, but here FCN has invited us into their missionary endeavors in a handson, transparent way,” said Mullen- Muhr, who visited India in 2008 and left amazed at FCN’s farreaching impact.