McMaster students join tsunami relief effort

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/tsunami2.jpg” caption=”Members of TSVP-McMaster, Shaynee Mehta, left, and Vithika Sivabalasundaram, second-year life sciences students, collect donations for the tsunami relief effort in the McMaster University Student Centre. Photo credit: Chantall Van Raay “]McMaster students have joined the largest relief effort in history by contributing time and money to the 11 south Asian countries hit by a devastating tsunami.

The McMaster chapter of The Student Volunteer Program (TSVP) and McMaster's MBAs Without Borders are among countless organizations assisting victims of the recent disaster.

A meeting will be held tonight (Monday) at 9 p.m. in the McMaster University Student Centre (MUSC) atrium to discuss how students and clubs can work together in their efforts. Further information from this meeting will be posted on the Daily News on Tuesday.

Donations to the Canadian Red Cross can be made at an information booth in the MUSC this week. Updated information and current news about the tsunami relief effort and a blue-ribbon campaign can also be found here. The booth is set up between the Compass Information Centre and Williams Coffee Pub.

Throughout the week, monetary donation boxes will be set up at various locations across campus and various fundraising events, such as bake sales and classroom presentations will be organized. Details will be finalized at Monday's meeting.

“We hope to create a prolonged awareness about the relief effort, and how we can remain committed to it over a long period of time,” says Kalaichelvi Saravanamuttu, faculty advisor for TSVP-McMaster, and a professor of chemistry at the University.

TSVP is a Toronto-based sustainable development organization that participates in rehabilitation and redevelopment activities in various developing countries. It has partnered with the Canadian Red Cross and other local community groups in collecting monetary funds, medical supplies and other essential items to be shipped to various countries. TSVP's relief efforts will be made through its facilitatory role in the Tsunami Relief Fund, an ad-hoc committee comprised of student clubs, faculty and administration from several Canadian universities.

MBAs Without Borders (MWB) has also joined the relief effort. Once health relief has been completed and local infrastructure has stabilized over the coming months and years, MWB will send teams of students to Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia to help rebuild local businesses and economies.

Tal Dehtiar, co-founder of MWB, will leave for Tanzania this week to meet and secure partnerships with local businesses and non-governmental organizations. During his two-month stay, he plans to visit Africa's east coast to assess the damage caused by the tsunami, and see if he can provide assistance.

MWB has donated $100 to Oxfam Canada, Care Canada, Doctors Without Borders Canada and World Vision Canada to help in the relief effort.