High school students trying to help tsunami victims

Students collect clothing, supplies and funds.

By: Melissa Hayes
   Boxes of clothes, shoes, glasses and medical supplies filled the lobby and lined the halls of South Brunswick High School. A table covered with jugs of loose change took up space in the main entranceway.
   That was last week. This week, those donations made by students and staff to help with tsunami relief efforts have been removed and are on their way to local and international charities.
   With the death toll surpassing 226,000, survivors of the Dec. 26 tsunami in Southeast Asia and eastern Africa are in desperate need of supplies, and some high school students are trying to help.
   Upon returning from winter break Jan. 3, members of the Asian Cultures and Medical Futures clubs knew they wanted to help and decided to run collection drives.
   Over the course of the last week, the Asian Cultures Club was able to raise more than $1,650 in spare change and left over lunch money from students and staff. The money will be donated to the American Red Cross and UNICEF.
   "We knew we wanted to do something," said senior Mitul Patel, the Asian Cultures Club’s vice president.
   The fund-raising efforts began after students approached their advisors, Maritza Arango and Nisha Patel, about collecting money. Ms. Arango and Ms. Patel sent a letter to fellow teachers and the event took off from there.
   Ms. Patel also created a PowerPoint presentation of images of the tsunami, which aired Jan. 12 on the Viking Television Network during morning announcements, making students aware of how much support was needed.
   Asian Cultures Club President Deepal Patadia, a senior, said the fund-raiser was a way students could feel like they were contributing.
   "If students around the school felt they were helpless in this time of disaster, we felt this was the way to contribute to the relief fund," she said.
   Asian Cultures Club members said teachers contributed, but it was mostly students who did the donating.
   "The students were welcoming," said junior Vijay Ahlaway, recording secretary. "They were very eager."
   Corresponding Secretary Reetu Saha, a junior, said representatives from the club were in the cafeterias during every lunch and had a table near the entrance of the school where students could drop money into large jugs.
   On Friday, junior Nina Yiamsamatha appeared on VTN urging students to donate to the relief efforts. Nina is not affiliated with any of the organizations that were collecting, but has a cousin in Thailand who is missing as a result of the tsunami.
   "I said some facts and talked about how 160,000 people were killed and thousands are missing," she said. "I talked about how it affected everyone and spoke about how it affected me and asked people to contribute."
   Although the Asian Cultures Club has completed this fund-raiser, it hopes to provide more relief in the future. The club is working with the art honors society to possibly hold an art auction with the proceeds going to the relief effort.
   The Asian Cultures Club’s annual Culture Show is March 18 and it will be donating a portion of the proceeds to tsunami relief effort.
   In addition, the Medical Futures Club wrapped up its clothing, glasses and medical supply drive Tuesday.
   The idea for the clothing drive came from junior Sindhura Lanka, who is not a member of the Medical Futures Club, but has club advisor Karen Kozarski as a science teacher.
   On Jan. 3, the first day back from winter break, Sindhura asked Ms. Kozarski if she could make an announcement in class. Her temple, Ved Mandir in East Brunswick, was collecting clothing for the New Jersey Buddhist Vihara in Princeton, which is sending items collected over seas.
   Although she is not a club member she was been working with them throughout the drive.
   On Jan. 11, Medical Futures Club officers waded through boxes and bags filled with clothes, shoes, glasses and medical supplies such as bandages and gauze. They organized the clothes according to gender and age — infant, child and adult — and packed them into Ms. Kozarski and co-treasurer Hersh Patel’s cars.
   The items were taken to Sindhura’s home and her father took them to Ved Mandir.
   On Tuesday — the last day of the two-week collection drive — several bags sat in the corner of Ms. Kozarski’s room waiting to be transported.
   "Every kid in the building wanted to do something," Ms. Kozarski said of the overwhelming response the group got from the student body.
   Originally the Medical Futures Club’s co-treasurer Anuja Selvakumar, a sophomore, suggested donating over-the-counter medicine, because all of the students in the group want to go into some aspect of the medical industry.
   Ms. Kozarski said she liked the idea, but there are restrictions placed on donations of medicine. The school also does not allow students to carry medications, prescription or over-the-counter, in school without registering them with the nurse first.
   The Medical Futures Club had considered donating money and approached activities director Linda Fekete about this the first week back to school, but was told the Asian Cultures Club was already planning to collect money.
   "We didn’t want a competition," said co-Vice President Smrita Choubey, a junior.
   The Medical Futures Club members said they would have liked to continue collecting clothing and other supplies, but felt students may loose interest and they also would not have a way to get the items overseas.
   "We can only do it as long as the temple is sponsoring it," said co-Recording Secretary Anuj Sathe, a sophomore.