The story that follows, (written by Dorothy Sangster) originally appeared in the December, 1990, edition of Chatelaine magazine and is reprinted here in its entirety, with the kind permission of the author and Chatelaine© Rogers Publishing Ltd.

The Little Family that Grew and Grew

Bonnie and Fred Cappuccino didn't want a large family, the world was already overcrowded. But then, they found that the world was also full of needy kids. So, they adopted 19 of them - and that was just the beginning.

Last winter, an ailing Ottawa-area farmer turned his television dial to CBC's Man Alive, and became engrossed in a story about an extraordinary Canadian couple

Fred Cappuccino and his wife, Bonnie, married 37 years and with two biological sons, had adopted and brought up 19 boys and girls from 11 countries, most of them in the Far East. Five and a half years ago, when many of their kids were grown up and on their own, they had turned their thoughts to the destitute children of India and together with a Cornwall, Ont., physician, Dr. Natubhai Shah and his wife, Kala, and others, had founded a nonsectarian nonprofit organization, Child Haven International. Man Alive's camera had followed Bonnie Cappuccino on a recent trip to India, where 170 small children are now growing up, loved, wanted and cared for by paid local staff and unpaid Canadian volunteers in three Child Haven homes in different parts of the country.

"Try to find that couple I saw on television," the farmer begged a neighbor. "Ask them to come and see me. I want to give them a gift."

A few days later, they appeared at the farmer's door: bearded Fred, 64, in a conservative gray suit, blonde Bonnie, 56, in a floating rose-colored sari. The sick man handed them a cheque for $15,000.

Bonnie recalls, "We were stunned! We tried to thank him but he said he just wanted to help kids. He said he also intended to leave us two properties in his will worth about $40,000. Our thoughts flew to Hyderabad, where we have 107 children, including babies, living in a decrepit house whose walls melt when it rains. We hope to use our benefactor's money to build them a new house in a better location."

For the Cappuccinos, who live with their six youngest children in a pioneer log cabin near Maxville, a small rural community in eastern Ontario, it was the second happy surprise in a year. Some months earlier, an international jury had awarded them UNESCO's prestigious Honorable Mention "for the teaching of human rights," the first time that this honor has been bestowed on a Canadian.

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