Southeast Asian communities in the region including Indian, Indonesian and Thai organizations have banded together to present "An Evening of South Asian Dances" on Saturday at 5 p.m. in West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North to raise funds for the relief of tsunami victims.
Leading the effort is the Nrithyanjali Institute of Dance, a nonprofit cultural agency based in North Brunswick. Supporting the effort are the Plainsboro Arts Partnership, Asha for Education-CNJ, the Carnatic Music Association of North America, Vokalinga Parishat of North America, and the Indo American Civic Forum, among other partners.
Featured performers on Saturday will be Ramya Ramnarayan (Indian dance), Carlos Fittante of Balam Dance Theater (Indonesian dance) and Suchitra Palivan (Thai dance).
The suggested minimum donation for admission is $10, but the organizers are appealing for as generous a response as possible on the part of the public. Nrithyanjali will be disbursing 100 percent of the funds to relief agencies in South Asia, including The Rotary Foundation, BAPS Care International, Oxfam America and the American Red Cross.
For more information, call Ram Tirumala at (732) 398-9895.
Through Friday of this week, Ten Thousand Villages, a nonprofit fair trade retailer located in the Princeton Shopping Center, will donate 10 percent of its sales to Mennonite Central Committee’s (MCC) Asia Earthquake Fund. The fund will benefit those affected by Sunday’s earthquake and resulting tsunami in Southeast Asia.
MCC a relief, service and peace agency of the North American Mennonite and Brethren in Christ churches, based in Akron, Pa. has designated $75,000 as an initial rapid response to the disaster and is planning a longer term response.
For more information about the benefit shopping event for MCC’s Asia Earthquake Fund, call Rowna Gross, store manager, at (609) 683-4464 or visit www.tenthousandvillages.com.

