WE SALUTE THE ROTARY DISTRICT 5150 OF SAN FRANCISCO

The Foundation of Goodness salutes the Rotary District 5150 of San Francisco, USA and the inspirational Mr Eric Z Shapira (past District Governor) for their unending support of our tsunami relief work in rebuilding houses. We are incredibly grateful for the tremendous hard work that Eric and his colleagues have carried out in order to raise funds for an amazing 49 new houses for tsunami affected families. We have been so fortunate to have their support and pay particular tribute to Eric for being such a dedicated leader and putting so much energy into our cause.

It is purely by accident that Eric stumbled upon the Foundation in March earlier this year whilst traveling to other areas within Sri Lanka. When Eric saw the model and plans the Foundation had in terms of tsunami relief, plus the urgent need in the area for new houses, he pledged to help in whatever way he could. He pulled together a huge collective effort from the Rotary District 5150 to raise the funds to build an initial 27 new houses for some of the poorest families in the area. All the recipients of the houses proudly display a plaque outside their house with the Rotary emblem. To view these houses please click here.

What is equally remarkable is the follow up to this. Once Eric and his colleagues had received progress reports from the Foundation, seen pictures of the new houses and heard stories about the families living in them, they were moved to find more funding to help tsunami affected families. From this call to action the Rotary District 5150 and other Rotary Clubs in the US pledged funding for a further 22 houses to be built. These houses will provide homes to some of the poorest families in the area who previously lived in mud huts, now these families will have new homes with electricity and water - facilities they never had before.

Our thanks go to the following generous donors for their help in making this incredible gift happen: Rotary District 5150 of San Francisco; Rotary Club of Redwood City; Rotary Club of Sausilito; Rotary Club of Salem, Maine District 7930; Rotary Club of Novato; Russ and Kathy Ketra.

Two of the recipients of this amazing collective donation are Mrs W Premawathi of Malawenna village and Mrs W Ranjani from Kalupe. Both their homes had been totally destroyed by the tsunami. Mrs Premawathi is thrilled with her new home and thanks Kushil and the Foundation as well as the donors, "We have got a house and we want to thank the Rotary Clubs and all the donors." Mrs Ranjani is also delighted to have a house to live in now, and she adds, "This is the best thing that you can give a human being; again I would like to thank the Foundation of Goodness and the Rotary for all the help they have given."

True measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do absolutely no good to him in return.