Help Cyclone Victims in Burma $25.00
On May 2 and 3, 2008, Cyclone Nargis devastated Burma (also known as Myanmar), one of Asia's poorest countries. UN and aid groups estimate more than 132,000 are dead or missing, more than 19,000 are injured, and more than 2.4 million are affected by the storm and in need of food, water, and shelter.
The conditions of roads and the complexities of the political situation in Burma / Myanmar make delivering aid a challenge, one that many aid agencies are striving to meet.
You can help.
GreaterGood.org is working with an aid group already on the ground in Burma -- a critical advantage in a climate where Burma's military rulers are still blocking many foreign aid workers from helping.
The people of Burma still need our help desperately. Please join us in reaching out to help the survivors of this staggering disaster.
Report from the Field
On May 8, Burmese employees from the Foundation for the People of Burma (FPB) traveled 3 hours southwest of Rangoon to an Irrawaddy Delta community of 400 destroyed households. "We found families attempting to live in the rubble of their homes. Today we were able to provide rice, beans, oral rehydration solution, and chlorine tablets, but they badly need buckets and construction materials before the coming rainy season."
On May 9, 2008, GreaterGood.org wired $27,000 to FPB to support relief efforts. FPB is working in the outskirts of Rangoon, supplying rice & beans, clean water and portable toilets for the makeshift camps that were set up in the area following the cyclone. FPB also rented a boat to make a dangerous 12-hour trip from Rangoon to assist the most inaccessible victims of the storm. The boat is carrying volunteers, food, construction materials, water, and sanitation kits.
On May 16, GreaterGood.org made a second distribution to FPB, of just under $22,000. FPB's president, Hal Nathan, writes: "Our warmest thanks to The Hunger Site and GreaterGood.org for their rapid response and deep concern for the current plight of the people in Burma. We are impressed and grateful for their incredible mobilizing efforts which have resulted in food, water, shelter and healthcare for thousands of storm victims during the critical first twelve days after Cyclone Nargis. We have shared with our Burmese staff and friends news of your generosity and compassion. It truly makes a difference. Thanks."
Update, May 26
While many foreign aid agencies are still finding themselves stymied in their attempts to deliver aid within Burma, FPB's network of staff and volunteers numbers more than 300 people on the ground in Rangoon and in the delta, including trained medical personnel. FPB is reaching over 70,000 people with food, water purification tablets, tarps, buckets, oral rehydration, and medicine. Agricultural rehabilitation continues with more acreage dredged and replanted, and home construction is underway in many villages.
Update, June 24
FPB writes: "Please accept our warmest thanks for your recent amazing donations... Foundation for the People of Burma has mobilized its network of 345 Burmese staff and volunteers in the most hard hit areas, and is reaching over 130,000 people with medical supplies, food, sanitation and rebuilding assistance. With heroic perseverance, the staff surmounts daunting obstacles to their work on a daily basis. Maung Lay, a student volunteer, drove a truck full of rice to 3 villages that has almost no food for 2 weeks. The military roadblock stopped him to confiscate the food. Maung Lay looked directly at the young soldiers and replied, "You will have to kill me first." They let him pass and the food got through. Despite military harassment, threat of disease, and challenging logistics, the local foundation network has brought life saving relief and begun the rebuilding and replanting process in numerous delta villages.
"Thanks to contributions from concerned people like you, lives have been saved. FPB is in Burma for the long-term and we will work side-by-side with affected communities to open economic opportunities, rebuild housing and get children back into school."
Hal Nathan, President
Years before the cyclone devastation, we began to provide funding for the Karen people (one of Burma's ethnic groups targeted by the junta, many of whom are refugees in Thailand) by providing a market for Karen handmade goods, and more recently by providing funding to Mae Tao clinic on the Thai-Burma border. The Mae Tao clinic provides critical medical care to Burmese refugees and even manages to send medical help into this isolated, impoverished country. Now the people of Burma need our help more than ever before.
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Please note: Your purchase is tax-deductible in the U.S.A., and you will receive a receipt from GreaterGood.org for your taxes. 100% of this gift goes directly to GreaterGood.org and is earmarked for cyclone disaster relief in Burma. GreaterGood Network stores do not receive any profit from the sale of this Gift That Gives More™; we bring it to you in the spirit of the greater good. GreaterGood.org has ultimate authority and discretion with regard to the distribution of its funds. All expenditures made are consistent with the exempt purposes of GreaterGood.org.
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