Reaching out to tsunami victims

Samaritan Children's Home in Sri Lanka. photo provided As the scale of human suffering from the December 26 earthquake and tsunami in South Asia became apparent, fund-raising efforts got underway to help victims.

The Nugget has launched such an effort to help rebuild the Samaritan Children's Home on the east coast of Sri Lanka.

Dayalan Sanders, a Sri Lankan-born U.S. citizen, ran the orphanage for 28 children. On December 26, the orphanage was wiped out. Sanders, his wife, the staff and all 28 children escaped on a fiberglass boat.

According to a story by Washington Post(Click here for the complete story. Free registration is required) reporter John Lancaster, Sanders' "wife burst through the door, a frantic look on her face.

"'The sea is coming!' she said. Come! Come! Look at the sea!'

"Thanks to quick thinking, blind luck and an outboard motor that somehow started on the first pull, the orphans and their caretakers joined the ranks of the survivors."

According to a story in The Gazette in Montgomery County, Maryland, where Sanders' sister lives, "Dayalan Sanders returned to the mission and told his sister what he found: The living quarters were gone. The main walls were listing; the rushing water uprooted chunks of the foundation. Electrical generators, gone; computers, gone; the equipment, all gone.

"Yet, somehow, the small chapel remained standing." (See story).

An account has been established at Bank of the Cascades to accept donations from the Sisters area. Funds will be used to rebuild the orphanage. Donations may be made directly to the "Samaritan Home Relief Fund" account at Bank of the Cascades. Checks may be dropped off at The Nugget, 442 E. Main Ave. Make checks payable to: "Samaritan Home Relief Fund." For more information click here (downloadable pdf -- 256K) or call 549-9941.