UT students help tsunami relief efforts
By Jon Strunk	Email this article
Jan 12, 2005	Printer friendly page
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A group of students within the Indian Student Organization at The University of Toledo has taken up a collection to aid those displaced and injured by the tsunami that struck southeast Asia Dec. 26. Asha for Education, an international organization dedicated to improving educational opportunities for children in India, is raising funds for survivors in need of food, shelter and medicine. “We’re trying to reach those people who the government has not,” said Srikanth Pilla, UT graduate student in the College of Engineering and co-coordinator of the Asha for Education chapter in Toledo. According to Pilla, the Indian government’s resources have been focused on those who lost a loved one in the disaster, but there are thousands and thousands more who survived the disaster struggling in the aftermath. In addition to helping fund immediate humanitarian needs, Pilla said Asha for Education will raise funds to assist rebuilding schools and facilitating learning as people in the area gradually try to return to a sense of normalcy. Pilla said he had not heard of any loss of life among the families of UT students that were in the areas affected by the massive waves. Stephen Perry, senior director of the Office of International Student Services, agreed, saying that so far, the only messages returned by students with families in the area were thank-yous for inquiring about their safety. People can donate to help tsunami victims at the Toledo Asha for Education Web site, http://www.ashanet.org/toledo/
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