Happy New Year from your friendly,
neighborhood webmaster!

Monday, January 3, 2005

I have received e-mail from Kevin & Leslie letting me know that they are fine, and they want their friends and family to know that they are safe and sound. They moved back to the U.S. in Summer/Fall 2004, but returned to Thailand in November 2004 in order to adopt their baby girl. They will soon be returning to the States with their newly adopted daughter, Mercy Anne McDermott.

They share in the deep sadness felt around the world for the unfortunate victims of the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia. Only today, upon revisiting the photos on Page 8 of this section, did I realize that Kevin & Leslie took a trip to Phi Phi Island near Phuket, off the Southwest coast of Thailand in October 2003. They were there, a year and a half ago, in the heart of what is now a disaster zone.

Phi Phi Island was among many of the small islands that were devastated by the tsunami, and we've all seen the horrific images of Phuket in the news. If you would like to help the tsunami victims, I have compiled a list of some charities, along with brief descriptions and contact information for each.

I know that it's confusing trying to figure out which agency to send your donation to, when there are so many worthwhile organizations. I hope this information will help you to decide. All of the charities listed below are currently helping tsunami victims throughout Southeast Asia. Thank you for caring.

Sincerely,
Deena N. Alansky,
Multimedia/Web Developer,
Pittsburgh, PA. USA

P.S. I found this fascinating survivor's story on the CNN web site. Told in the first person, this young man's journal entries are captivating! He is British, but lives in Prague. Like so many others, he was vacationing in Thailand with friends when the tsunami struck.

Surviving the tsunami in Thailand
By Ian Colledge for CNN, Monday, January 3, 2005
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/12/30/kosurin.eyewitness/index.html

BANGKOK, Thailand (CNN) -- Briton Ian Colledge, 29, is a keen diver who has traveled widely in southeast Asia. He was on a diving trip to Thailand with his Czech girlfriend, Petra Vesela, when the tsunami struck the island of Surin Neua. Since then he has been keeping a Web log for CNN.com. He lives in Prague and is writing his first novel.

WAYS TO HELP THE TSUNAMI VICTIMS
Please consider making a donation to any one of the following humanitarian organizations. Thank You!

Brother's Brother Foundation:
1200 Galveston Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15233, 412-321-3160
www.brothersbrother.org

Brother's Brother Foundation is helping survivors of the tsunami in South Asia. BBF plans to assist in India & Sri Lanka and is offering to provide medications, including pediatric and adult antibiotics and anti malaria drugs, immediately. BBF is requesting financial support to send these emergency medications as quickly as possible.

BBF, a 47-year old Pittsburgh-based international charity, has provided over $1.4 billion of medical supplies, textbooks, food, seeds, and other humanitarian supplies to people around the world in over 120 countries.

Forbes Magazine, the national business periodical, listed Brother's Brother Foundation as the only charity to receive 100% and/or higher rating in all three categories in special issue, 2005 Investment Guide Charity on newsstands, Monday, December 13, 2004.

The issue lists 200 charities, rating them on how efficiently they collect and distribute donations. Brother's Brother Foundation received 100% rating or higher in all three evaluating categories. The categories included charitable commitment, donor dependency and fundraising efficiency. Read the Article in Forbes Magazine

Doctors Without Borders:
P.O. Box 1856, Merrifield, VA 22116-8056, 888-392-0392
www.doctorswithoutborders.org

Providing Medical Relief Worldwide:  Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières, also known as MSF) delivers emergency aid to victims of armed conflict, epidemics, and natural and man-made disasters, and to others who lack health care due to social or geographical isolation.

Sunday, January 2, 2005 – In addition to its mobile medical teams in Banda Aceh, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) yesterday also brought a mobile clinic to the remote costal town of Lhok Timon. The team was dropped by helicopter, with materials for medical consultations as well as 120 kilos of rice for the 1,500 people in the town.

World Vision:
P.O. Box 9716, Federal Way, WA 95063-9716, 888-511-6548
www.worldvision.org

Who We Are:  World Vision is a Christian relief and development organization dedicated to helping children and their communities worldwide reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty.

World Vision Sets $50 Million Goal for Asia Disaster:  Humanitarian leader will travel to region on Monday; relief supplies being airlifted

December 31, 2004 – LOS ANGELES – World Vision, the Christian humanitarian organization, has set a $50 million goal to help the victims of the Asia disaster, the largest single commitment in the organization's 54-year history."This is the greatest human emergency of our time," says World Vision International President Dean R. Hirsch, who will leave Monday, January 3, to survey damage and direct World Vision's short- and long-term responses.