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Communities reach out to tsunami victims

Artists, musicians, businesses contributing to Friday fundraiser at conference centre

The communities of Whistler and Pemberton are coming together to reach out to the people of tsunami-ravaged South Asia.

On Friday a fundraiser will be held at the Telus Conference Centre by both communities to raise funds for relief efforts, with all the proceeds being funnelled through the Red Cross.

"We just hope we are successful and raise a lot of money," said Pemberton Mayor Elinor Warner recalling how the help of strangers made such a difference when the Pemberton area was flooded in October 2003.

"We all just want to help someone in any way we can," she said. "And while we can’t say our flood was anything like the scale of this I can’t help but go back to how people helped us."

That same sentiment is driving a push by Squamish Councillor Jeff Dawson, who is organizing the adoption of a South Asian village by the community. He said the scale of the devastation caused by the Boxing Day tsunami, which is estimated to have killed 155,000 people, has made it difficult for most people to figure out a way to help.

"I looked at this and I thought how do you begin to solve something like this, it is just massive in its scope," said Dawson. "You know what you do is that you break a big problem into a series of small workable solutions."

Dawson’s workable solution was to adopt a village.

"What really hit us about this is that this is something that every town in North America, in fact the world, could do. If every town adopted a village this is solvable, just one piece at a time."

He has received hundreds of phone calls and e-mails of support and a community meeting was to be held yesterday to figure out how to get the plan off the ground.

Dawson plans to work through official agencies and has already been in touch to see how it might come together. He knows it won’t be easy, but said Dawson: "We are going to make it possible.

"We are under no illusion that this is a short term project. Many of us hope to make it a life-long commitment. It is a minimum of two to five years. You can rebuild a community easily.

"This is a long-term journey. There are folks who will be with us for the entire journey and others will come and go on the journey."

For some months now Whistler has been considering pairing up with a sister city in South Asia after local businessman Jay Wahono, of the Java Café and Taman Sari Royal Heritage Spa suggested it. Wahono’s extended family lives mostly in and around Jakarta.

"Council had already given consideration that if we do another sister city relationship that we should do one with a Third World country," said Whistler Mayor Hugh O’Reilly. "So that fits into this.

"I’m going to put forward to council that we try and formalize a relationship and really try and direct our energy to the community so that whether you’re a bartender, or you’re the mayor, you can go there and maybe you can get involved in activities and teaching and sharing."

At this point O’Reilly is not envisioning a financial contribution, but rather a sharing of expertise to get an area back in business using some of the resort’s proven strategies.

The proposal will go before Council this Monday, Jan. 10.

According to Wahono, he will suggest the island of Nias off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The island was only 50 kilometres from the epicentre of the earthquake that set the tsunami in motion.

Most of the residents escaped, having experience with earthquakes and tsunami waves, but the villages that support a growing tourist economy – one of the islands only economic drivers – were destroyed.

"There are several reason why I chose this community," explained Wahono. "The main one is that it is already known for the best surfing beaches in the world. There are also attractions like scuba diving and deep sea fishing.

"There is no development, no big hotels, just little bungalows on the beach where people would stay, and those have been washed away."

Whistler could lend support and expertise to help them develop tourism says Wahono, and members of the community, like hotel operators, could form partnerships in the area.

A family friend of the Wahonos, a pastor from Jakarta, is heading to Nias to find out the extent of the damage, and what kind of support is needed.

According to Wahono, the Huntington Beach Surf Club in California is already raising money to help the people of Nias, organizing donations from other surf clubs and surfers around the world.

"Nias is so small, like a lot of the islands there, and they haven’t gotten much attention," Wahonos said. "Areas like Aceh (Indonesia), where 90,000 people died, are getting the most attention, but two-thirds of that area is still under water. There is almost nothing that Whistler can do there right now except send aid because it’s too big, those communities are completely destroyed.

"Nias is smaller, they depend almost totally on tourism, like Whistler, and they will need our help."

Meanwhile the fundraising event at the conference centre will get underway after 3 p.m., with donations being taken at the door. It will include various entertainers, including music by Guitar Doug Craig and Gord Rutherford as well as refreshments, artists’ displays and a silent auction.

Craig has travelled to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam several times over the years to perform and this week booked a trip back to the area in April.

"I am still reeling from it," said Craig. "I’ve lost a couple of friends and other friends’ businesses are completely decimated and other friends whose businesses won’t be up and running for some time."

He is urging as many people as possible to come to the fundraiser and give whatever they can.

"They are very desperate and the governments are very poor," said Craig. "I hope the event is well attended and we can raise a substantial amount of money.

"You wouldn’t believe how many different things your 50 bucks can supply. If people would just take 10 minutes to pop by (the conference centre) with even that loonie sitting on the windowsill or any kinds of spare change they have at all it would be great. This part of the world needs them."

Other local fundraising efforts include:

• The Whistler Mountain Ski club donated all the proceeds from selling espresso and pizza at First Night, a total of $2,255.24, to the Canadian Red Cross Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Effort, with the Government of Canada matching all funds. The fundraiser was made possible with contributions from SAECO Authentic Italian Espresso Machines, Avalanche Pizza, Cows, the RMOW, Pistol and Burnes Coffee, Pure Source H20, Sabre Rentals, and the help of the Winter, Patterson, Green, Nowak, Mah, Samer, Parry, Whitney, Bayliss, Reiss, Janyk, Emerick, Crowley, Ptolomy and Ross-Moro familes.

• Local bars will be charging $10 cover charges on Friday after the event at the conference centre, with all proceeds going towards the Red Cross. Participating bars at press time included Moe Joe’s, Garfinkel’s, Buffalo Bill’s, The Longhorn, Citta’s, The Amsterdam, Tapley’s Pub, The Boot Pub, the Savage Beagle, and Down Under.

• Black’s Pub owner Lawrence Black is giving $1,000 and his staff is donating all their tips from Friday’s business. Black is challenging other restaurants to do the same.

• The staff at Uli’s Flipside is organizing a fundraiser on Tuesday, Jan. 11, starting at 7 p.m. The $30 tickets include a buffet dinner, draws, a slide show on the affected areas and a performance by Slow Nerve Action. Tickets are on sale at Behind the Grind and Citta’s, Uli’s Flipside and the Hub Internet Café.

• Farfalla Hair and Body Spa will be donating all the profits from make-up, hair and manicures on Sunday, Jan. 16 th .

• The staff at the GLC will be donating all tips from Saturday to the relief effort and they are challenging other servers to do the same.

• Fiber Options and the Whistler Hemp Company will be raising money for the Red Cross through the sale of hemp cloth shopping bags and hand-knit wool gloves, with all the money going towards flood victims. Staff have put donation cans in the stores, and have made personal contributions to the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders.

• Pemberton is having a community wide bottle drive on Friday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. You can drop off your bottles at the parking lot of the Pemberton Trails Steakhouse. The proceeds will go to the Red Cross and UNICEF.

• Home Hardware stores across Canada are collecting donations which will be given to the Red Cross. The independent hardware store chain has also announced that it will donate $250,000 for relief.

• McDonald’s restaurants will be collecting donations across the country. McDonald’s Canada has also donated $50,000 directly to the Red Cross.

• So far the Canadian government has pledged $80 million in aid, although Prime Minister Paul Martin has said that it is just the beginning and more will likely be announced in the future. Canada is also sending the Canadian military’s Disaster Assistance Response Team to Sri Lanka with medical supplies and water purification equipment.

The B.C. government has pledged $8 million so far. Alberta, Ontario and Quebec will be providing $5 million each.

Canadians have also dug deep, so far contributing $70 million to charities, although numerous high-profile fundraisers are still taking place across the country.