Nov. 2, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Harold Kerbo
(805) 756-2752
David Conn
(805) 756-2246
Cal Poly Raises $6,000 for East Asian Tsunami Relief Efforts
SAN LUIS OBISPO - Cal Poly, with the help of the San Luis Obispo chapter of Rotary International, raised just over $6,000 to aid two Thai villages affected by the Tsunami that hit Southeast Asia last December.
With the help of the U.S.-based charity, the International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), which helped collect donations on behalf of the Thai-based charity, the Center for the Protection of Children's Rights (CPCR), the CPCR received virtually 100 percent of the total amount raised. Only $50 was subtracted from the total to pay for the wire transfer of funds from the U.S. to a local Thai bank, according to Harold Kerbo, social sciences department chair.
All funds collected were directed to the two affected villages.
CPCR is directed by Uthai Dulyakasem, a Thai university dean and former Fulbright professor at Cal Poly, who helped establish Cal Poly's Thai Study program. CPCR was created to address the needs of Thai children who have lost their parents or homes.
"A large part of the money went to help buy supplies for the temporary schools set up for children in the two destroyed villages," said Kerbo.
Additionally, 20 Cal Poly students in the Thai Study Program paid out of their own pockets to travel to the area affected by the tsunami, where they helped clean up the area and build houses for the villagers.
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