Help Sri Lanka Disaster Relief Fund

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On the 26th of December 2004, Mother Nature unleashed her power indiscriminately along the coasts of eleven countries. Thousands faced with the ultimate moment in their lives in a matter of seconds. They were the children of a multitude of nationalities and faiths. They were from all walks of life.  Most of all they were mothers, fathers, children, siblings, spouses, and best friends. In a few dreadful seconds all of them became the victims of an unparalleled disaster. When it was over, again there were the mothers, fathers, children, siblings, spouses and best friends. This time they were searching for their loved ones. Their haunting cries were answered only by a few. In some villages, there were no survivors.
The nicest thing about being human is that we are capable of feeling for other fellow human beings in distress. The millions all over the world heard the meek surrendering call for help. Everybody was asking? How can I help? Nobody saw the victims as  “they” or “them”. Everybody felt one with the victims, it was “us”.
Within a few days after the Tsunami, the Great Lakes Buddhist Vihara--as a US Internal Revenue Service Section 501(c)(3) registered non-profit tax-exempt organization--founded the Help Sri Lanka Disaster Relief Fund (HSLDRF).  The sole objective of this fund was to help the victims in Sri Lanka through rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts.  A committee was formed comprising of volunteers to carry out this task.  The structure of the committee allowed anybody interested to become a member (without reservation) and volunteer as much or as little as possible.  An account was established at at Bank One (Branch No: 00043), in Michigan on December 26th, 2004.  Furthermore, a “PayPal” account was established to enable donors to send money to HSLDRF directly via the internet using “credit card accounts”. As of 13^th of May 2005 the fund raised a total of 91,0000.00.

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