115 Watson Road
Vass, NC 28394
USA
10 December 09
Dear friends,
We would like to wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a wonderful New Year filled with good health, happiness and peace.
We also would like to thank you on behalf of our charity organization for helping us to continue a mission that is well worth every penny you have donated. We realize that you have many options and choices when you decide to make a donation. And some of you have your own favorite charity. However, you have been very generous and extremely kind in supporting us.
We plan to continue our mission and support those children. We would like to invite all of you who are in a position to travel to Sri Lanka and meet these children to join me on my next trip. We will be going in the coming year and if you have any interest, please contact us.
Every child needs an opportunity grow and become a fruitful citizen and you are helping to achieve that goal.
Your donations and contributions are Tax deductable. If you have not received a receipt from us, please call or send an email and we will send you the receipt.
Once again, thank you and may God bless you.
Sincerely yours,
Pius Gabriel
WWW. Tsunami-aid-sri-lanka.org
910-245-1999
Happy Thanksgiving greetings to you
2009
Dear friends, donors and family members,
We would like to wish you all the most wonderful Thanks giving you could celebrate. We have so many things to be thankful for in our lives. We were at our friends’ house for an early Thanksgiving dinner since they will be in Florida to celebrate Thanksgiving with their family members who recently returned from Iraq. Following the social, our friend, Jamie announced that “we have a tradition in our house that during every Thanks giving meal before we say the blessing, we hold each other’s hands and say out loud what we are thankful for in our lives and most especially during this year”.
Since I was at the beginning of the line, I was asked to start. Where does one start when you are blessed with so many things? So I started with all the blessings God has bestowed on me and most especially my family and friends, material things such as a house, food and so on. Children thanked their parents and husbands thanked their wives and wives thanked their husband. One voice thanked all the people who have been helping those who are supporting all the poor children, widows, homeless, the aged and the orphans.
We too would like to thank all of you who have stood by us for so many years in our quest to support the few orphans in a far away place that most of you have seen only on TV or through your readings. Few of you have been either cursed or blessed to have seen their poor living conditions in person. Regardless, you have been faithful in your support which enables us to continue our work. We want you to know that we, the board of directors, and all the children and the nuns and priests who care for them are eternally grateful to you.
Since we wrote you a while back, we would like to give a quick update. Most of the local donors and friends were aware that Rev. Clement Annadas, our Operations Director from Sri Lanka arrived here in August 2009 and visited many of you in various areas. Unfortunately we were not able to visit every one of you, due to his short stay in this country and in Canada. Part of his presentation is attached for your information. This presentation was given to the donors in and around Pinehurst , Southern Pines and surrounding areas of North Carolina on 9th of September 2009.
“ Dear Friends
It’s a paramount delight for me to stand before you to say a few words, a testimonial witness about the project which was launched by the Brothers of the Poor of USA.
The country of Sri-Lanka (formerly Ceylon), located 31 miles off the south-eastern coast of India, The area of Sri Lanka is approximately65,610 km2 and it was hit by tsunami triggered by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sumatra on December 26, 2004.
The tsunami was one of the worst disasters ever recorded in Sri-Lankan history. The eastern shores of Sri Lanka faced the hardest impact since they were facing the epicenter of the earthquake.
The tsunami left tens of thousands dead, many more homeless and caused widespread chaos throughout the island. In addition to the human impacts, the tsunami had widespread effects on Sri Lanka's environment and ecosystems.
Mr. Pius Gabriel and his Brothers came forward to help us soon after the disaster. The Bishop of the Diocese of Trincomalee – Batticaloa was happy to release me to work with the Brothers of the Poor.
Mr. Pius Gabriel and Mrs. Terry Moher visited Sri-Lanka soon after the tsunami and saw the pathetic scene by themselves.
It’s a miracle; it’s the benevolence and love of God that the Brothers of the Poor stretched their hands to the victims of Tsunami. The people of Sri-Lanka will not forget the timely assistance rendered by BOP.
Mother Theresa Sisters, Holy Family Nuns, and a Jesuit priest and some volunteers stretched their hands to work together to implement this project.
The valuable mission of the BOP started its mission and it was beyond any caste, creed or religion.
At the beginning we distributed essential food items through their respective parish priests. Special evening classes were started immediately for the students since the schools were not functioning and most of the schools were converted as refugee camps.
Some houses were repaired. Some permanent houses were built for the affected families who lost everything.
The selections of the beneficiaries were done by the village society and by this the whole villagers gave their fullest support to us.
The orphanage run by the Missionaries of Charity sisters were assisted to take care of these affected children.
A long term consolidated program was inaugurated. An orphanage was built at our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Batticaloa.
We got the help of the Rev. Sisters to admit some orphan children in their orphanages with our monthly financial assistance to ensure better life for the children and to educate the children in order to bring them as leaders of the society and get rid of the trauma they experienced. We provided scholarships to the affected children to focus more on the education.
We also helped the affected families by providing the basic facilities such as water, sanitary and housing
We also gave opportunity to expose the special talents of the children. We provided training in sewing and other basic skills and guidance to exhibit their ability and potential and made them feel that they are special.
We provided these children with special training classes to have a better future. Computer classes and special English classes were organized to these children.
The diocesan Vincent De Paul Society officially requested the BOP to help some affected students who are under the care of the Holy Family Sisters at Ozanam centre of Batticaloa. Their request was fulfilled.
The income dropped alarmingly but the programs never came to a standstill. It is with the generosity of the few donors the programs are still going on.
Due to the shortage of funds we could not implement all the programs as we planned. On the average it costs a dollar a day per child. Pius might have mentioned this to you in the past. We don’t take even a penny for administrative expenses. I and my team of volunteers work with dedication to support the project of the BOP.
Certain programs were reduced. I take this opportunity to thank sincerely the well wishers, donors and kind hearted people for your valuable support to take care of these children and continue our program and to enhance the living standard of these children.
When you sponsor a BOP child, you make it possible for your sponsored child to grow up in a secure environment. Your contribution helps us to meet the child's daily needs, guarantees medical assistance and also ensures quality education for the child. Thanks to your help, we are in a position to support the development of the child in the best possible way, and to prepare him or her to reach their full potential and lead an independent life.
I would like to extend a personal invitation for each one of you to come to Sri Lanka and visit our children and enjoy the beautiful tropical beaches.
Once again Thank you and God bless you.”
Presented by Rev. Fr. Clement Annadas in USA.
You have shown that no matter how difficult it may be in a world filled with pain and cruelty, economic downfall, wars, global malnutrition and starvation, torture, and political power struggle, there are moments when it is important to stop looking at all the problems and just to focus on all the good things around us. “The psalmist said that this is what the focus of the weekly Sabbath or Shabbat celebration should be: "It is good to give thanks.." And that's part of what Thanksgiving could be about. You have been doing more than your part to bring some comfort to many children and the poor people who are lost in the daily hassle , but they are not forgotten either by you or God.
Thank you and May God bless you all. Happy Thanksgiving.
George Gabriel Pragash Gabriel Pius Gabriel
President Treasure Executive Director
Dear Friends and Donors,
It has been a while since we wrote you. We would like to take this opportunity to give you an update on what is the status of the Children and the overall situation. As I mentioned earlier in my email, I was in Sri Lanka during the period of Christmas which was the fourth anniversary of the Tsunami. Just as a reminder, our charity was established to support the children and the poorest by paying for food, housing and some medical expenses. Since its founding the Brothers of the Poor, with your help, have been supporting more than 250 children. They are safe, and receiving an education and they have some meals to sustain them. We may not be able to give them more than the basic, but they are much better off than some other children with poor families. When you give, you have an impact on the daily lives of these children. All the children under our care are supported by our organization with your donation.
One of the stories of a child, Viyagumalar, is now nine years old: she lost her father when she was four due to the civil war, that has been going on for the past 30 years. Then she lost her Mom and all the relatives along with most of people from the village. She was rescued by some strangers and was brought to the refugee camps and from there she was sifted to two different camps and finally she was brought to the camps provided by the nuns. She never thought that she will find a home to live in peace. But now she says she feels like she is with more sisters than she originally had. She told me that “I miss my mom and my sisters. Sometime I wish I could see them. I hope they will come to see me in my dreams, but I can’t dream”
We would like these children to dream of a future with lots of hope and promises. When you give, you enable us to continue to give them the support they need and keep them in school so their mind will be saved and put to good use for themselves and for the good of the community they will be part of. If we fail to capture their young minds and develop it in the correct path, then the consequences are unimaginable. The children are so thankful and glad to see a visitor from the US came to see them. They always want to know why the other people who support us can’t come and see us. I always tell them that because of the war, they are not allowed to travel to the east. Only the NGOs and other official visitors are allowed to visit that part of the island and they understand that.
We have invited our local Operations director, Rev. Fr. Annadas and one of the Board of Director, Mr. Balasubramanium to come to the US and visit some of the donors and share their life stories and their experiences with as many of you. Once the visa issues are taken care we will and some places where we can get as many as you to come for a gathering. We realize that some of you are far away and difficult to travel. However, we will try to find ways to transmit the message to all.
On my last trip, one of the cruel thing I had to do was to tell the students who were receiving some money for the tuition to learn English language and basic computer skills that we are unable to continue that services. It was truly a heart breaking thing to do and unable to watch them cry. If there is someway I could pay for it and continue to support those children I would do it. Unfortunately, none of the Board members can continue to carry such a big load year after year. In addition, our donations are not coming in as we would like it to be. In these difficult economic times Charity is the first item most people cut out of their budget. However, that it is even more important for us to remember those children who are the beneficiaries of your financial assistance. Without your assistance, we can not continue to help those children. You are their life line. We hope we can count on your generosity.
As a reminder, If you donate thirty dollars it will support a child for a month. A Donation of 360 will support a child for a whole year. All we need is 250 people to give $360.00 a year and it will be like winning a lottery for the children. As we have pledged , we do not take any funds for administrative cost. We do not take any money out of this funds to pay for the cooks and the facility supervisors at the locations where we have rented houses for the children. We have no paid staff. 100 % of the collected funds goes to Sri Lanka to care for the children.
As everywhere in the country, all the prices are gone through the roof. In addition, the war makes all the items very scarce in the east where we have all these children. Most of the times we are unable to find bread or rice for the children and we are unable to pay the black market price for items since we are on a very strict budget. Several of you have inquired about sending items to Sri Lanka. First of all it is cost prohibitive to mail or ship items there. Secondly, we have to subject our volunteers to travel to the west coast to claim the items from custom and pay a very hefty duty and transport it to the East at a high cost. This travel to the west and back is a trip from hell in every respect. Dr. Terry Moher can vouch for this since she has traveled this route once. We are counting on you for the continued support.
We wish you and your loved ones the wind of the back …
Thank you for your continued support.
Pius Gabriel
Executive Director