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Dear Case Community:
On December 26, the tsunami in the Indian Ocean brought devastation to the people in the countries of that region, and our hearts go out to all of our fellow world citizens enveloped in this continuing tragedy.
In a global community like Case's, events halfway around the world are felt as keenly as those around the corner. Our campus is home to 1,100 international students, a number of whom are from the affected nations, including 151 from India, 58 from Malaysia, 51 from Thailand, 12 from Indonesia, and one from Sri Lanka. Edith Berger and her staff in the Office of International Student Services have been hard at work checking on the safety of students who may have returned to their homelands over winter break. To the best of our knowledge at this time, we're grateful to report that all are safe. Until we can account for everyone, however, we send our thoughts and prayers their way-and do the same for our students' families and friends in their home countries. Our thoughts also go out to our faculty and staff members and other members of our community who have loved ones in the region.
I urge all of you in the campus community to look deep within for your own personal response to the tsunami suffering. Person by person, we can make a difference in the relief effort.
Sincerely,
Edward M. Hundert, M.D.
This is an archival page from an earlier version of our Web site. For more recent information visit the current Office of the President site.
The Tsunami Relief Effort: How to Help
For those interested in assisting with relief efforts in the aftermath
of the Asian tsunami, here are a few options:
Children in Disasters Project
The Children in Disasters Project, founded in 1996, is a training program developed and organized by a group of pediatricians and other healthcare and educational professionals from Case Western Reserve University and Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital of University Hospitals of Cleveland. Directed by Case medical school faculty member Karen Olness, M.D., the project provides training to health professionals and relief workers, both in the United States and in critical locations overseas, on how to recognize and respond to the special needs of children in disasters.
In response to the tsunami crisis, Thai and Indian graduates of the program are playing leadership roles in coordinating and administering disaster relief in their countries. Program leaders are in direct, ongoing contact with a group of Thai and Indian pediatricians who have assumed responsibility for assessment of children's medical, nutritional, and psychosocial needs on the west coast of Thailand and the east coast of India, respectively.
The Case/Rainbow group is responding to urgent requests from its Thai colleagues for technical assistance and logistical support. Due to the staggering numbers of children affected, the colleagues on the ground in Thailand send word that there is an urgent need for funds to purchase supplies for rehabilitation programs designed specifically for disaster-affected children.
The program has in place a mechanism for transferring 100 percent of funds donated for this purpose to the Thai team through Health Frontiers, a long-established nonprofit foundation created to support such efforts. Since Health Frontiers is an all-volunteer organization, there will be no overhead costs; all gifts will go directly to help the children stricken by the disaster.
Health Frontiers, 44500 66th Avenue Way, Kenyon, Minnesota 55946. Phone 507-789-6725 or fax 507-789-6575.
Contributions payable to Health Frontiers can also be sent to the organization's campus office: Health Frontiers, in care of the Rainbow Center for International Child Health, Case Western Reserve University, 10900 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44106-6003. For further information, e-mail Felicite Katz, program manager of the Children in Disasters Project, at felichatel@yahoo.com.
The Health Frontiers website is at http://www.healthfrontiers.org/.
American Red Cross
A financial donation to the American Red Cross International Response Fund will provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance, and other support to those in need.
Send contributions to the American Red Cross Greater Cleveland Chapter, 3747 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115-2596; or to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013.
Contribute via the web at http://www.redcross.org/.
Or contribute by phone: 1-800-HELP-NOW (1-800-4357-669), or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish).
Network for Good
This Internet philanthropy resource links people to charities. It includes an extensive listing of agencies involved in the tsunami relief effort. Go to http://www.networkforgood.org/.
Business as an Agent of World Benefit
The Case Western Reserve University Center for Business as an Agent of World
Benefit is a global forum uniting the best in business with the call of our
times. At the heart of the Center is a worldwide search for the many ways that
the business sector is putting its people, resources, imagination and assets
to work to benefit humanity.
The Center's web site at http://worldbenefit.cwru.edu/bawb_wi_tsunami.html offers
a few resources aimed at assisting businesses in effectively and constructively
responding to the tsunami.
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