Cheruthoni: A priest chose 20 cents of land he got as family property to gift to two homeless families.

Fr Eldon Edappatt, who is a vicar at the St Peter’s Church at Malad, Mumbai, transferred the ownership of the plots to two poor households at Thekkinthandu in Vathikudi panchayat in Idukki district. The priest belongs to this hilly locality.

One of the beneficiaries was Roy Joseph, who had sold his 15-cent plot for the treatment of his ailing sister and had been living at a rented accommodation for 11 years. The second is Daimy Johnson, who lives with her mother and two daughters at a rented house at Adimali after her husband died in an attack by a wild elephant.

The properties will be handed over at a function at the Christuraja Church at Rajapuram, Murikkassery, on Sunday. Fr Eldon will also disburse a total sum of Rs 2 lakh to local residents affected in last month’s floods and landslide. This money was contributed by several people for flood-relief activities.