Brockport Sri Lanka Tsunami
relief efforts raise $6,500 for orphanage

Members of the greater Brockport community, SUNY College at Brockport faculty, staff and students and the Brockport Methodist Church worked in a joint effort to aid Sri Lankan children who were victims of December's tsunami. The drive resulted in a donation of $6,528 being sent to the Tirukkovil Village Orphanage. The facility serves two populations: 71 boys who live there and, since the tsunami, about 14 girls who come there for the day.

Collectively, the children are characterized as "the poorest of the poor" and in most cases are the sole "bread winners" of what remains of their families, according to Rev. Sinnathamby Thevanesan, pastor of the Brockport Methodist Church. Shortly after the tsunami, Thevanesan traveled to his native Sri Lanka and identified the orphanage as an appropriate focus for the community fund-raising effort.

Residents of the orphanage sustain themselves by making clothing that is sold in nearby villages. Funds raised by the greater Brockport community will be used to purchase sewing machines, bicycles and a computer to facilitate their enterprise.

The campus will continue to collaborate with Thevanesan and his congregation, the Village of Brockport and the Town of Sweden in the effort to help. College officials are considering a "village-to-village" citizen exchange project where individuals from Tirukkovil visit Brockport with SUNY Brockport students going to Sri Lanka.