Thanks to the generous and amazing fund-raising efforts of Oxford Elementary students at least one more new home will be built in Sri Lanka.
From Jan. 19-28, OES students raised a little more than $6,000 to help the Salvation Army’s efforts to build new houses in Galle, a seaport city in southwestern Sri Lanka.
Galle was the hardest-hit area of the island nation during the Dec. 26 tsunami disaster that devastated South Asia.
It’s estimated the killer tsunamis ? set off by a 9.0 earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia ? left 53,000 Sri Lankans in the Galle district homeless.
To aid these survivors, the Salvation Army in partnership with other aid groups is planning to build 1,000 new and permanent homes on 344 acres of land donated by the Sri Lankan government.
‘The allocated land is beautiful ? an abandoned rubber plantation that is cool, green and peaceful. Located near the village of Galgodawatte (in the Galle district), about six kilometers from the Indian Ocean, it is a mix of trees, including pepper and cinnamon, a flat open valley and savannah-like fields,? according to the Salvation Army’s international website.
The estimated cost to build one new home is $5,000.
OES and its sister school Daniel Axford were planning to pool their money in the hopes of collecting enough to build one home.
But since OES already raised more than enough on its own, the goal now is to build two houses.
To that end, Daniel Axford will be holding an afterschool walkathon dubbed ‘Walk to Build? on Wednesday, Feb. 23. DA students are currently collecting pledges for the charity event.
Thirteen OES students collected $100 or more for their tsunami fund-raiser. The top earners were Marissa Wick ($860); Matthew Zitney ($330); Erin Jarvis ($215); Kimi Matsumoto ($207); Hope Wheeler ($151); Taylor Barrett ($148); Shelby Gulda ($145); Maryann Stockard ($135); Claire Smith ($130); Cassie Galbraith ($130); Emily Bailey ($100); Josh Smith ($100); and Shawn Donaldson ($100).