We are a group of people who have at some time or another touched each others lives. Some of us are high school classmates who attended the Francesco Morosini Naval College in Venice (Azzurra Course 1983-1986). Our strong friendship and sense of belonging were solidified even more in the days following September 18th, 2009, when our classmate Pierluigi's two-year old daughter Anna suddenly passed away.

We stood by Pierluigi and his family, but above all we believed this tragedy should take on some significant meaning. One that might help alleviate some of our classmate's suffering and keep the memory of little Anna alive and well.

Giulio Simoni, friend and ex-Morosini graduate like us, and founder of the Onlus, has traveled for work in India for many years. During one of his various trips, he came into contact with a family in southern Bangalore in the outskirts of Salem who had taken in fifty-seven children (16 boys and 41 girls) from living in the streets. They all live together in two rooms, sleep on the floor and eat rice once a day. Regardless, they are no longer living in the streets and this is already an important beginning.

Giulio and his India-native colleague Mr. Gangadharan, have worked together for many years in an effort to help these children. They bought and started to re-new a cement-based structure which will be a much improved place to house and raise the children.

When the registration and legalization process of the structure was under way in order to inform the local authorities entitled to give the proper authorizations, Giulio decided to name the orphanage after Anna.