Lighting the way home:
GC&SU connects with international relief effort
Samuel Howe
Issue date: 1/28/05 Section: Campus News
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Murali Thirumal, executive director of Milledgeville's Lockerly Arboretum and native of Sri Lanka, is also a GC&SU graduate. Upon hearing the news of his homeland being ravaged by tsunamis, Thirumal immediately began a disaster relief fund to send aid to the reeling island nation. The Sri Lanka Disaster Relief Fund project started off small, but Thirumal says he was shocked to see how fast word spread about his relief efforts and the response that followed.
"We have raised a little over $21,000 in just three weeks," Thirumal said. "Virtually every Milledgevillian has supported (the fund) in some form or fashion".
Unlike the vast majority of relief funds of this nature, Thirumal's project will administer 100 percent of monies donated directly to the victims of the tsunami.
"There are a lot of people who wanted to make sure that 100 percent of their contributions are given directly to the cause and not for administrative purposes. We already had a pipeline set up in Sri Lanka working with the indigent population before the tsunami, and all we did was accelerated our fund-raising efforts to sustain that pipeline, so there is zero administrative cost for all the monies received."
GC&SU is also looking to get involved with Thirumal's disaster relief efforts. The Coverdell Institute, a federally funded program in honor of Sen. Paul Coverdell, held roundtable discussions on the tsunami in the University Banquet Hall on Monday and Tuesday last week, and a candlelight vigil Wednesday evening outside Atkinson Hall.
GC&SU President Dorothy Leland and her administration are actively discussing other ways the college can support Thirumal and his efforts.
"We're currently looking at different ways we can assist and include students in the efforts," Director of University Communications Mitch Clarke said. "Over the next several months, we'll be doing a combination of activities to involve the students and also provide assistance with the relief effort."
"I am extremely thrilled and grateful that the university community is getting involved in having a long-term working relationship in the tsunami-affected areas in Sri Lanka," Thirumal said.
Since Dec. 26, when an underwater earthquake in the Indian Ocean registered a 9.0 on the Richter Scale and created tsunamis that devastated Southeast Asia, the death toll has risen to over 200,000 and continues to grow. Even after the deaths caused directly by the deadly waves, disease and homelessness continue to ravage the nations affected by the disaster.
For more information on Thirumal's Sri Lanka Disaster Relief Fund, visit www.relieflanka.org/index.htm or email Thirumal at mthirumal@relieflanka.org
