SIT grad students raise over $7500 for tsunami orphans
Wednesday, March 2, 2005
By: Tristan Roberts

Benefit event raises money for Sri Lanka orphans' organization

Organized by a group of students in SIT's Program in Intercultural Service, Leadership and Management (PIM), a recent fundraising drive brought in over $7,500 in donations to benefit Sarvodaya, a Sri Lankan organization that aids orphans, including children orphaned by the December tsunami.

The fundraising drive, centered around the SIT campus in Brattleboro, Vermont, included several components: a party thrown by two SIT students, a bake sale during a concert of the Windham Symphonic Orchestra at SIT, a Community Council fundraiser, and a February 11th "evening of education and entertainment" at Brattleboro's River Garden.

The River Garden event included children's activities; ethnic food and drinks; a silent auction of art and crafts made and donated by SIT students and staff; an information session about Sri Lanka and Sarvodaya; an open discussion with SIT professors about development, relief and trauma recovery; a raffle of items donated by local businesses; live performances by SIT students and staff; and dancing.

"The event would not have been possible without the support of SIT and World Learning," SIT's parent organization, said Dennis Winkler, PIM 64, an event organizer. "About a dozen staff were formally involved, many more came as guests, and about 80 SIT students came as guests and volunteers," he said. "I was simply blown away by people's generosity."

By holding the event in downtown Brattleboro, Winkler said it was an opportunity to have a dialogue with the community of Brattleboro about SIT's values. Many guests came from the town and offered support in other ways, he said.

The first $2,500 raised was matched by one individual, "which was a great inspiration to all of us to work even harder," said Winkler.

With increasing attention to how donations are handled by receiving governments, the organizers chose Sarvodaya as their beneficiary, noting its level of community involvement and history of spending money directly on the intended cause -- in this case, two orphanages run by Sarvodaya. Kanthie Athukorala, a native Sri Lankan, spoke at the event on Sri Lanka and Sarvodaya. Read More about this on Sarvodaya's website.

For more information, contact Dennis Winkler, PIM 64, at Dennis.Winkler@mail.sit.edu